Biomedical subjects

Bruno H Repp

Publications and source records attributed to Bruno H Repp.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Multiple temporal references in sensorimotor synchronization with metrical auditory sequences.

A local phase perturbation in an auditory sequence during synchronized finger tapping elicits an automatic phase correction response (PCR). The stimulus for the PCR is usually considered to be the most recent tap-tone asynchrony. In this study, participants tapped on target tones ("beats") of isochronous tone sequences consisting of beats and subdivisions (1:n tapping). A phase perturbation was introduced either on a beat or on a subdivision. Both types of perturbation elicited a PCR, even though there was no asynchrony associated with a subdivision. Moreover, the PCR to a perturbed beat was smaller when an unperturbed subdivision followed than when there was no subdivision. The relative size of the PCRs to perturbed beats and subdivisions depended on tempo, on whether the subdivision was local or present throughout the sequence, and on whether or not participants engaged in mental subdivision, but not on whether or not taps were made on the subdivision level. The results show that phase correction in synchronization depends not merely on asynchronies but on perceptual monitoring of multiple temporal references within a metrical hierarchy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Hearing a melody in different ways: multistability of metrical interpretation, reflected in rate limits of sensorimotor synchronization.

Music commonly induces the feeling of a regular beat (i.e., a metrical structure) in listeners. However, musicians can also intentionally impose a beat (i.e., a metrical interpretation) on a metrically ambiguous passage. The present study aimed to provide objective evidence for this little-studied mental ability. Participants were prompted with musical notation to adopt different metrical interpretations of a cyclically repeated isochronous 12-note melody while tapping in synchrony with specified target tones in the melody. The target tones either coincided with the imposed beat (on-beat tapping) or did not (off-beat tapping). An adaptive staircase method was employed to determine the fastest tempo at which each synchronization task could be performed. For each metrical interpretation, a significant advantage for on-beat over off-beat tapping was obtained - except in a condition in which participants, instead of synchronizing, were in control of the target tones. By showing that a self-imposed beat can affect sensorimotor synchronization, the present results provide objective evidence for endogenous perceptual organization of metrical sequences. It is hypothesized that metrical interpretation rests upon covert rhythmic action.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Pianists duet better when they play with themselves: on the possible role of action simulation in synchronization.

Ensemble musicians play in synchrony despite expressively motivated irregularities in timing. We hypothesized that synchrony is achieved by each performer internally simulating the concurrent actions of other ensemble members, relying initially on how they would perform in their stead. Hence, musicians should be better at synchronizing with recordings of their own earlier performances than with others' recordings. We required pianists to record one part from each of several piano duets, and later to play the complementary part in synchrony with their own or others' recordings. The pianists were also asked to identify their own recordings. The pianists were better at synchronizing with their own than with others' performances, and they were able to recognize their own recordings. Furthermore, synchronization accuracy and recognition were correlated: Pianists who were relatively accurate at synchronizing with their own performances were also good at recognizing them. Thus, action simulation may underlie both synchronization and self-recognition.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Does an auditory perceptual illusion affect on-line auditory action control? The case of (de)accentuation and synchronization.

Many recent studies have investigated whether visual (spatial) illusions affect visual (spatio-temporal) action control, with results that are far from simple. The present study asks the analogous question with regard to auditory temporal perception and action timing. The auditory illusion chosen for this particular study is the effect of increasing or decreasing the intensity of a tone in a sequence (i.e., accentuation or deaccentuation) on its perceived relative time of occurrence. The motor task is sensorimotor synchronization (finger tapping), specifically the automatic phase correction response to an advanced or delayed tone in a sequence. The strong hypothesis was that (de)accentuation would affect perceptual judgments of the tone's relative time of occurrence, but would have no effect at all on the phase correction response. The results of two experiments, if averaged across participants, confirm these predictions and furthermore suggest that individual perceptual and sensorimotor effects of (de)accentuation are uncorrelated. It is argued that perception and motor control in this case probably rely on different kinds of temporal information: relative versus absolute time of occurrence. Two unexpected findings complicate the results, however: the perceptual illusion was asymmetric, occurring only for delayed tones; and many individual participants did show significant differences in their phase correction response to accented and deaccented tones, although the direction of that difference varied.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2005

Does an auditory distractor sequence affect self-paced tapping?

This study investigated whether an auditory distractor (D) sequence affects the timing of self-paced finger tapping. To begin with, Experiment 1 replicated earlier findings by showing that, when taps are synchronized with an isochronous auditory target (T) sequence, an isochronous D sequence of different tempo and pitch systematically modulates the tap timing. The extent of the modulation depended on the relative intensity of the T and D tones, but not on their pitch distance. Experiment 2 then used a synchronization-continuation paradigm in which D sequences of different tempi were introduced only during continuation tapping. Although the D sequences rarely captured the taps completely, they did increase the tapping variability and deviations from the correct tempo. Furthermore, they eliminated the negative correlation between successive inter-tap intervals and led to intermittent phase locking when the tapping period was close to the period of the D sequence. These distractor effects occurred regardless of whether or not the taps generated auditory feedback tones. The distractor effects thus depend neither on the intention to synchronize with a T sequence nor on the simultaneous perception of two auditory sequences. Rather, they seem to reflect a basic attraction of rhythmic movement to auditory rhythms.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

The influence of metricality and modality on synchronization with a beat.

The great majority of the world's music is metrical, i.e., has periodic structure at multiple time scales. Does the metrical structure of a non-isochronous rhythm improve synchronization with a beat compared to synchronization with an isochronous sequence at the beat period? Beat synchronization is usually associated with auditory stimuli, but are people able to extract a beat from rhythmic visual sequences with metrical structure? We addressed these questions by presenting listeners with rhythmic patterns which were either isochronous or non-isochronous in either the auditory or visual modality, and by asking them to tap to the beat, which was prescribed to occur at 800-ms intervals. For auditory patterns, we found that a strongly metrical structure did not improve overall accuracy of synchronization compared with isochronous patterns of the same beat period, though it did influence the higher-level patterning of taps. Synchronization was impaired in weakly metrical patterns in which some beats were silent. For the visual patterns, we found that participants were generally unable to synchronize to metrical non-isochronous rhythms, or to rapid isochronous rhythms. This suggests that beat perception and synchronization have a special affinity with the auditory system.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2005

Sensorimotor synchronization: a review of the tapping literature.

Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), the rhythmic coordination of perception and action, occurs in many contexts, but most conspicuously in music performance and dance. In the laboratory, it is most often studied in the form of finger tapping to a sequence of auditory stimuli. This review summarizes theories and empirical findings obtained with the tapping task. Its eight sections deal with the role of intention, rate limits, the negative mean asynchrony, variability, models of error correction, perturbation studies, neural correlates of SMS, and SMS in musical contexts. The central theoretical issue is considered to be how best to characterize the perceptual information and the internal processes that enable people to achieve and maintain SMS. Recent research suggests that SMS is controlled jointly by two error correction processes (phase correction and period correction) that differ in their degrees of cognitive control and may be associated with different brain circuits. They exemplify the general distinction between subconscious mechanisms of action regulation and conscious processes involved in perceptual judgment and action planning.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Staying offbeat: sensorimotor syncopation with structured and unstructured auditory sequences.

Three experiments investigated whether adding metric (higher-order, periodic) structure to tone sequences stabilizes syncopated finger tapping. Participants tapped in antiphase with metronomic tone sequences in which accents--produced by sounding two tones simultaneously--occurred regularly every two, three, or four tones (metric), occurred unpredictably (irregular), occurred on every tone (heavy beat), or were absent (light beat). Tap timing variability, although commensurate with metric and light beat sequences, was lower with metric than with heavy beat and irregular sequences even when the instructions specified using metric grouping in all conditions. Higher-order periodic fluctuations (delays) in tap timing--found only in metric conditions--were associated with low overall tap timing variability, suggesting that a regularly applied, meter-based phase-resetting mechanism stabilizes syncopation.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Comments on "Rapid motor adaptations to subliminal frequency shifts during syncopated rhythmic sensorimotor synchronization" by Michael H. Thaut and Gary P. Kenyon (Human Movement Science 22 [2003] 321-338).

Thaut and Kenyon [Human Movement Sci. 22 (2003) 321] have shown that, in a task requiring tapping in antiphase with a metronome, the response period adapts rapidly to a small (+/-2%) change in the stimulus period, whereas the relative phase between stimulus and response returns to its pre-change value only very gradually. On the basis of these and earlier findings, Thaut and Kenyon argue that period adaptation is rapid and subconscious, whereas phase adaptation is slow and dependent on awareness of a phase error. This interpretation is at variance with results in the literature suggesting that phase correction is rapid and subconscious, whereas period correction is slow and dependent on awareness of a period mismatch. Although differences in terminology (adaptation versus correction) play a role in this conflict, it primarily reflects different conceptions of sensorimotor synchronization and different interpretations of empirical findings. By excluding from their model a central timekeeper or oscillator with a flexible period, Thaut and Kenyon have omitted an essential component of human timing control that is needed for a proper explanation of their results.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2004

On the nature of phase attraction in sensorimotor synchronization with interleaved auditory sequences.

In a task that requires in-phase synchronization of finger taps with an isochronous sequence of target tones that is interleaved with a sequence of distractor tones at various fixed phase relationships, the taps tend to be attracted to the distractor tones, especially when the distractor tones closely precede the target tones [Repp, B. H. (2003a). Phase attraction in sensorimotor synchronization with auditory sequences: Effects of single and periodic distractors on synchronization accuracy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 290-309]. The present research addressed two related questions about this distractor effect: (1) Is it a function of the absolute temporal separation or of the relative phase of the two stimulus sequences? (2) Is it the result of perceptual grouping (integration) of target and distractor tones or of simultaneous attraction to two independent sequences? In three experiments, distractor effects were compared across two different sequence rates. The results suggest that absolute temporal separation, not relative phase, is the critical variable. Experiment 3 also included an anti-phase tapping task that addressed the second question directly. The results suggest that the attraction of taps to distractor tones is caused mainly by temporal integration of target and distractor tones within a fixed window of 100-150 ms duration, with the earlier-occurring tone being weighted more strongly than the later-occurring one.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Adaptation to tempo changes in sensorimotor synchronization: effects of intention, attention, and awareness.

Adaptation to tempo changes in sensorimotor synchronization is hypothesized to rest on two processes, one (phase correction) being largely automatic and the other (period correction) requiring conscious awareness and attention. In this study, participants tapped their finger in synchrony with auditory sequences containing a tempo change and continued tapping after sequence termination. Their intention to adapt or not to adapt to the tempo change was manipulated through instructions, their attentional resources were varied by introducing a concurrent secondary task (mental arithmetic), and their awareness of the tempo changes was assessed through perceptual judgements. As predicted, period correction was found to be strongly dependent on all three variables, whereas phase correction depended only on intention.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2004

Perceiving action identity: how pianists recognize their own performances.

Can skilled performers, such as artists or athletes, recognize the products of their own actions? We recorded 12 pianists playing 12 mostly unfamiliar musical excerpts, half of them on a silent keyboard. Several months later, we played these performances back and asked the pianists to use a 5-point scale to rate whether they thought they were the person playing each excerpt (1 = no, 5 = yes). They gave their own performances significantly higher ratings than any other pianist's performances. In two later follow-up tests, we presented edited performances from which differences in tempo, overall dynamic (i.e., intensity) level, and dynamic nuances had been removed. The pianists' ratings did not change significantly, which suggests that the remaining information (expressive timing and articulation) was sufficient for self-recognition. Absence of sound during recording had no significant effect. These results are best explained by the hypothesis that an observer's action system is most strongly activated during perception of self-produced actions.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Rhythmic movement is attracted more strongly to auditory than to visual rhythms.

People often move in synchrony with auditory rhythms (e.g., music), whereas synchronization of movement with purely visual rhythms is rare. In two experiments, this apparent attraction of movement to auditory rhythms was investigated by requiring participants to tap their index finger in synchrony with an isochronous auditory (tone) or visual (flashing light) target sequence while a distractor sequence was presented in the other modality at one of various phase relationships. The obtained asynchronies and their variability showed that auditory distractors strongly attracted participants' taps, whereas visual distractors had much weaker effects, if any. This asymmetry held regardless of the spatial congruence or relative salience of the stimuli in the two modalities. When different irregular timing patterns were imposed on target and distractor sequences, participants' taps tended to track the timing pattern of auditory distractor sequences when they were approximately in phase with visual target sequences, but not the reverse. These results confirm that rhythmic movement is more strongly attracted to auditory than to visual rhythms. To the extent that this is an innate proclivity, it may have been an important factor in the evolution of music.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Phase attraction in sensorimotor synchronization with auditory sequences: effects of single and periodic distractors on synchronization accuracy.

Four experiments showed that both single and periodic distractor tones affected the timing of finger taps produced in synchrony with an isochronous auditory target sequence. Single distractors had only small effects, but periodic distractors occurring at various fixed or changing phase relationships exerted strong phase attraction. The attraction was asymmetric, being stronger when distractors preceded target tones than when they lagged behind. A large pitch difference between target and distractor tones (20 vs. 3 semitones) did not reduce phase attraction substantially, although in the case of continuously changing phase relationships it did prevent complete capture of the taps by the distractors. The results support the hypothesis that phase attraction is an automatic process that is sensitive primarily to event onsets.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Rate limits in sensorimotor synchronization with auditory and visual sequences: the synchronization threshold and the benefits and costs of interval subdivision.

Synchronization of finger taps with an isochronous event sequence becomes difficult when the event rate exceeds a certain limit. In Experiment 1, the synchronization threshold was reached at interonset intervals (IOIs) above 100 ms with auditory tone sequences (in a 1:4 tapping task) but at IOIs above 400 ms with visual flash sequences (1:1 tapping). Using IOIs above those limits, the author investigated in Experiment 2 the reduction in the variability of asynchronies that tends to occur when the intervals between target events are subdivided by additional identical events (1:1 vs. 1:n tapping). The subdivision benefit was found to decrease with IOI duration and to turn into a cost at IOIs of 200-250 ms in auditory sequences and at IOIs of 450-500 ms in visual sequences. The auditory results are relevant to the limits of metrical subdivision and beat rate in music. The visual results demonstrate the remarkably weak rhythmicity of (nonmoving) visual stimuli.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Phase correction in sensorimotor synchronization: nonlinearities in voluntary and involuntary responses to perturbations.

When finger taps are synchronized with an auditory sequence, both a global phase shift (PS) and a local event onset shift (EOS) in the sequence elicit a phase correction response (PCR) on the next tap. The PCR to an expected PS is intended and large, whereas that to an expected EOS is unintended and smaller. PCR magnitude increases linearly with perturbation magnitude up to about +/-15% of the sequence period (500 milliseconds). With larger perturbations, voluntary PCRs increase more slowly whereas involuntary PCRs reach an asymptote. These results, obtained previously in a blocked design [J. Exp. Psychol. Human Percept. Perform. (in press)], were replicated in a randomized design and in two additional task contexts that varied participants' intentions while neutralizing their expectations. Neither design nor expectations seemed to play a role. However, considerable individual differences were noted. The results confirm that phase correction is partially automatic and partially subject to voluntary control, and they provide empirical estimates of error correction functions that may be useful in formal modeling of sensorimotor synchronization behavior.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Spectral decomposition of variability in synchronization and continuation tapping: comparisons between auditory and visual pacing and feedback conditions.

Spectral analysis was applied to study the variability in human rhythmic synchronization to a visual, auditory or combined auditory-visual metronome of about 2 Hz, as well as the variability in continuation tapping at the same rate with or without visual or auditory feedback. In synchronization, variability was larger in the visual condition than in the auditory and combined conditions, but only below frequencies of about 0.3 Hz. Thus, there seem to be at least two sources of variability in synchronization, one being modality-independent and limited to intervals shorter than 3 s, and the other being modality-dependent and evident as slow "drift", especially in the visual task. In continuation tapping, variability did not depend reliably on the presence or modality of feedback. However, spectral analysis revealed a change in the temporal structure of variability around 0.08 Hz (a period of about 12 s or 24 taps), which roughly agrees with earlier findings reported in the literature.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Perception of timing is more context sensitive than sensorimotor synchronization.

In three experiments, the effects of contextual temporal variation on the perception of timing and on sensorimotor synchronization were examined. Experiment 1 showed that exposure to a variably timed auditory precursor sequence reduces the detectability of deviations from isochrony in a musical test sequence. By contrast, in Experiment 2 there was only a small and transient effect of identical precursor sequences on the variability of finger taps that were synchronized with a similar test sequence. Moreover, the precursor did not impede phase error correction following deviations from isochrony in the test sequence. Experiment 3 employed a within-subjects design that required simultaneous detection of irregularities in and synchronization with nonmusical auditory sequences. Precursor variability impaired only detection, not synchronization performance. These results suggest that perception of deviations from regularity engages context-sensitive tining processes, probably related to conscious awareness, that are not involved in sensorimotor synchronization.

Adult↗