Serial binary interval ratios improve rhythm reproduction

A Dynamical, Radically Embodied, and Ecological Theory of Rhythm Development

Musical rhythm abilities-the perception of and coordinated action to the rhythmic structure of music-undergo remarkable change over human development. In the current paper, we introduce a theoretical framework for modeling the development of musical rhythm. The framework, based on Neural Resonance Theory (NRT), explains rhythm development in terms of resonance and attunement, which are formalized using a general theory that includes non-linear resonance and Hebbian plasticity. First, we review the developmental literature on musical rhythm, highlighting several developmental processes related to rhythm perception and action. Next, we offer an exposition of Neural Resonance Theory and argue that elements of the theory are consistent with dynamical, radically embodied (i.e., non-representational) and ecological approaches to cognition and development. We then discuss how dynamical models, implemented as self-organizing networks of neural oscillations with Hebbian plasticity, predict key features of music development. We conclude by illustrating how the notions of dynamical embodiment, resonance, and attunement provide a conceptual language for characterizing musical rhythm development, and, when formalized in physiologically informed dynamical models, provide a theoretical framework for generating testable empirical predictions about musical rhythm development, such as the kinds of native and non-native rhythmic structures infants and children can learn, steady-state evoked potentials to native and non-native musical rhythms, and the effects of short-term (e.g., infant bouncing, infant music classes), long-term (e.g., perceptual narrowing to musical rhythm), and very-long term (e.g., music enculturation, musical training) learning on music perception-action.

Tapping ahead of time: its association with timing variability

Researchers have puzzled over the phenomenon in sensorimotor timing that people tend to tap ahead of time. When synchronizing movements (e.g., finger taps) with an external sequence (e.g., a metronome), humans typically tap tens of milliseconds before event onsets, producing the elusive negative asynchrony. Here, we present 24 metronome-tapping data sets from 8 experiments with different experimental settings, showing that less negative asynchrony is associated with lower tapping variability. Further analyses reveal that this negative mean-SD correlation of asynchrony is likely to be observed for sequence types appropriate for synchronization, as indicated by the statistically negative lag 1 autocorrelation of inter-response intervals. The reported findings indicate an association between negative asynchrony and timing variability.

Short-term memory for spatial, sequential and duration information

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Analog report methods provide novel insights on STM for space and time.

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Space and time may be used to bind features in STM.

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The hippocampus is involved in object-location binding in STM.

Space and time appear to play key roles in the way that information is organized in short-term memory (STM). Some argue that they are crucial contexts within which other stored features are embedded, allowing binding of information that belongs together within STM. Here we review recent behavioral, neurophysiological and imaging studies that have sought to investigate the nature of spatial, sequential and duration representations in STM, and how these might break down in disease. Findings from these studies point to an important role of the hippocampus and other medial temporal lobe structures in aspects of STM, challenging conventional accounts of involvement of these regions in only long-term memory.