Rhythmic Prototypes Across Cultures

Rainer Polak; Nori Jacoby; Timo Fischinger; Daniel Goldberg; Andre Holzapfel; Justin London

doi:10.1525/mp.2018.36.1.1

Rhythmic Prototypes Across Cultures

Music Perception An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.1525/mp.2018.36.1.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Rainer Polak ◽

Nori Jacoby ◽

Timo Fischinger ◽

Daniel Goldberg ◽

Andre Holzapfel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Music Performance ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Small Integer ◽

Performance Patterns ◽

Culture Dependent

It has long been assumed that rhythm cognition builds on perceptual categories tied to prototypes defined by small-integer ratios, such as 1:1 and 2:1. This study aims to evaluate the relative contributions of both generic constraints and selected cultural particularities in shaping rhythmic prototypes. We experimentally tested musicians’ synchronization (finger tapping) with simple periodic rhythms at two different tempi with participants in Mali, Bulgaria, and Germany. We found support both for the classic assumption that 1:1 and 2:1 prototypes are widespread across cultures and for culture-dependent prototypes characterized by more complex ratios such as 3:2 and 4:3. Our findings suggest that music-cultural environments specify links between music performance patterns and perceptual prototypes.

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Spatiotemporal perturbations in paced finger tapping suggest a common mechanism for the processing of time errors

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-54133-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sabrina Laura López ◽

Rodrigo Laje

Keyword(s):

Error Correction ◽

Music Performance ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

Sensorimotor Synchronization ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Common Mechanism ◽

Common Error ◽

Error Correction Mechanism ◽

Nonlinear Features ◽

Temporal Perturbation

AbstractPaced finger tapping is a sensorimotor synchronization task where a subject has to keep pace with a metronome while the time differences (asynchronies) between each stimulus and its response are recorded. A usual way to study the underlying error correction mechanism is to perform unexpected temporal perturbations to the stimuli sequence. An overlooked issue is that at the moment of a temporal perturbation two things change: the stimuli period (a parameter) and the asynchrony (a variable). In terms of experimental manipulation, it would be desirable to have separate, independent control of parameter and variable values. In this work we perform paced finger tapping experiments combining simple temporal perturbations (tempo step change) and spatial perturbations with temporal effect (raised or lowered point of contact). In this way we decouple the parameter-and-variable confounding, performing novel perturbations where either the parameter or the variable changes. Our results show nonlinear features like asymmetry and are compatible with a common error correction mechanism for all types of asynchronies. We suggest taking this confounding into account when analyzing perturbations of any kind in finger tapping tasks but also in other areas of sensorimotor synchronization, like music performance experiments and paced walking in gait coordination studies.

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Temporal and spatiotemporal perturbations in paced finger tapping point to a common mechanism for the processing of time errors

10.1101/690834 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Sabrina L. López ◽

Rodrigo Laje

Keyword(s):

Music Performance ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

Step Change ◽

Sensorimotor Synchronization ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Common Mechanism ◽

Nonlinear Features ◽

The Subject ◽

Gait Coordination ◽

The Moment

AbstractPaced finger tapping is a sensorimotor synchronization task where a subject is instructed to keep pace with an external metronome, as when following along with the beat of music, and the time differences (asynchronies) between each stimulus and its response are recorded. The usual way to study the underlying error correction mechanism is to make unexpected temporal perturbations to the stimuli sequence and then let the subject recover average synchronization. A critical but overlooked issue in traditional temporal perturbations, however, is that at the moment of perturbation two things change: both the stimuli period (a parameter) and the asynchrony (a variable). In terms of experimental manipulation, it would be desirable to have separate, independent control of parameter and variable values. In this work we perform paced finger tapping experiments combining simple temporal perturbations (tempo step change) and spatial perturbations with temporal effect (raised or lowered point of contact). In this way we decouple the parameter-and-variable confounding of traditional temporal perturbations and perform novel perturbations where either the parameter only changes or the variable only changes. Our results show nonlinear features like asymmetry and are compatible with the idea of a common mechanism for the correction of all types of asynchronies. We suggest taking this confounding into account when analyzing perturbations of any kind in finger tapping tasks but also in other areas of sensorimotor synchronization, like music performance experiments and paced walking in gait coordination studies.

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Studying a creative act with computers: Music performance studies with automated discovery methods

Musicae Scientiae ◽

10.1177/102986490500900101 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 11-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Gerhard Widmer

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Performance Studies ◽

Music Performance ◽

Machine Learning Algorithms ◽

Research Strategies ◽

Computer Methods ◽

Use Of Data ◽

Performance Patterns ◽

Automated Discovery ◽

Performance Principles

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how advanced computer methods may be able to provide new insights into a complex creative activity such as music performance. The context is an inter-disciplinary research project in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods are used to analyse patterns in performances by human artists. In asking how the computer can take us closer to an understanding of creativity in music performance, we identify two pertinent research strategies within our project: the use of machine learning algorithms that try to discover common performance principles and thus help separate the “rationally explainable” aspects of performance from the more genuinely “creative” ones, and the use of data mining methods that can discover, visualise and describe performance patterns that seem to be characteristic of the style of particular artists and thus may be more directly related to their individual creativity. Some preliminary results are briefly presented that are indicative of the kinds of discoveries these algorithms can make. Some general issues regarding (musical) creativity and its relation to Artificial Intelligence are also briefly discussed.

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Rate Limits of On-Beat and Off-Beat Tapping With Simple Auditory Rhythms: 1. Qualitative Observations

Music Perception An Interdisciplinary Journal ◽

10.1525/mp.2005.22.3.479 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 479-496 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Bruno H. Repp

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Music Performance ◽

Tone Onset ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Sensorimotor Coordination

The accuracy of on-beat and off-beat synchronized finger tapping was examined as a function of sequence rate in musically trained individuals. Auditory sequences consisted of cyclically repeated, underlyingly isochronous patterns of the form T0, TT0, or TTT0, where T denotes a tone onset and 0 denotes its absence. In different conditions, participants attempted to tap in synchrony with one of the possible T (�on-beat�) or 0 (�off-beat�) positions in each pattern while the sequence rate increased from trial to trial. It was hypothesized that on-beat tapping would be easier with tones that carry a rhythmic grouping accent (T2 in TT0, T1 and T3 in TTT0) than with tones that do not (T1 in TT0, T2 in TTT0), according to findings of Povel and colleagues. The hypothesis was strongly supported for TTT0, but there were considerable individual differences with regard to TT0. Off-beat tapping was generally difficult and often switched to on-beat tapping at fast tempi. The findings reveal rate limits of sensorimotor coordination that may be relevant to music performance in ensembles.

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