Ideomotor effects of pitch on continuation tapping

Abstract

The ideomotor principle predicts that perception will modulate action where overlap exists between perceptual and motor representations of action. This effect is demonstrated with auditory stimuli. Previous perceptual evidence suggests that pitch contour and pitch distance in tone sequences may elicit tonal motion effects consistent with listeners' implicit awareness of the lawful dynamics of locomotive bodies. To examine modulating effects of perception on action, participants in a continuation tapping task produced a steady tempo. Auditory tones were triggered by each tap. Pitch contour randomly and persistently varied within trials. Pitch distance between successive tones varied between trials. Although participants were instructed to ignore them, tones systematically affected finger dynamics and timing. Where pitch contour implied positive acceleration, the following tap and the intertap interval (ITI) that it completed were faster. Where pitch contour implied negative acceleration, the following tap and the ITI that it completed were slower. Tempo was faster with greater pitch distance. Musical training did not predict the magnitude of these effects. There were no generalized effects on timing variability. Pitch contour findings demonstrate how tonal motion may elicit the spontaneous production of accents found in expressive music performance.

Rhythmic movement: The role of expectancy and skill in event and emergent timing

“…That is, larger changes in pitch did not elicit stronger effects on timing than smaller changes in pitch, suggesting that the degree of pitch change is not related to the magnitude of the observed timing effects. This result is contrary to results obtained by Ammirante et al (2010Ammirante et al ( , 2011, who reported that ITI and TV mirrored implied tonal acceleration in melodies (Ammirante, Thompson & Russo, 2011;Ammirante & Thompson, 2010). Results described in Experiment 1 and 2 did not reveal differences in tapping intervals and velocity related to the size or direction of the pitch change.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that melodic contour change with great pitch distances elicited faster ITI and tap velocity, whereas pitch contour that implied negative accelerations induced slower tapping intervals, suggesting that there may be a fine tune between auditory feedback and timing (Ammirante, Thompson & Russo, 2011;Ammirante & Thompson, 2010). Perceptual studies also demonstrated similar illusions as findings suggested that a melody containing fewer contour changes is judged as faster than target, even when sequences were isochronous (Boltz, 1998).…”

“…This hypothesis is supported by anticipatory models that assume that all feedback derived from movements (tactile, kinesthetic, auditory) are integrated in a central representation of time (Mates & Aschersleben, 2000). Recent behavioral studies have also suggested that the pitch contour and pitch distance of sequential feedback tones influence tapping velocity and accuracy (Ammirante, Thompson & Russo, 2011;Ammirante & Thompson, 2012).…”

“…Support for this prediction can be found in recent studies showing that pitch contour and pitch distance in a melodic context significantly interact with timing in a tapping experiment (Ammirante & Thompson, 2010;Ammirante, Thompson & Russo, 2011). Models that assume that feedback from movement (tactile, kinesthetic, auditory) is integrated in a central representation of time, such as the internal forward model, (Mates & Aschersleben, 2000;Miall & Wolpert, 1996;Schubotz, 2007;Davidson & Wolpert, 2005;Bubic et al, 2010;Shadmehr, Smith & Krakauer, 2010) It was predicted that that unexpected pitch changes would significantly affect timing of the intervals following the unexpected change.…”

“…Research thus far has shown that the effect of unexpected perturbations on timing does not differ from musicians and nonmusicians (Ammirante, Thompson & Russo, 2011;Pfordresher, 2006), suggesting that the connection between timing and feedback does not depend on training but may be inherent to the system's operation. This hypothesis is further tested in this experiment.…”