Torre K, Delignières D. Unraveling the finding of 1/f beta noise in self-paced and synchronized tapping: a unifying mechanistic model.
BIOLOGICAL CYBERNETICS 2008;
99:159-170. [PMID:
18679707 DOI:
10.1007/s00422-008-0247-8]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2008] [Accepted: 07/16/2008] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
1/f (beta) noise has been revealed in both self-paced and synchronized tapping sequences, without being consistently taken into consideration for the modeling of underlying timing mechanisms. In this study we characterize variability, short-range, and long-range correlation properties of asynchronies and inter-tap intervals collected in a synchronization tapping experiment, attesting statistically the presence of 1/f (beta) noise in asynchronies. We verify that the linear phase correction model of synchronization tapping in its original formulation cannot account for the empirical long-range correlation properties. On the basis of previous accounts of 1/f (beta) noise in the literature on self-paced tapping, we propose an extension of the original synchronization model by modeling the timekeeping process as a source of 1/f (beta) fluctuations. Simulations show that this '1/f-AR synchronization model' accounts for the statistical properties of empirical series, including long-range correlations, and provides an unifying mechanistic account of 1/f (beta) noise in self-paced and synchronization tapping. This account opens the original synchronization framework to further investigations of timing mechanisms with regard to the serial correlation properties in performed time intervals.
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