Multilevel coordination stability: Integrated goal representations in simultaneous intra-personal and inter-agent coordination

Abstract

The influence of integrated goal representations on multilevel coordination stability was investigated in a task that required finger tapping in antiphase with metronomic tone sequences (inter-agent coordination) while alternating between the two hands (intra-personal coordination). The maximum rate at which musicians could perform this task was measured when taps did or did not trigger feedback tones. Tones produced by the two hands (very low, low, medium, high, very high) could be the same as, or different from, one another and the (medium-pitched) metronome tones. The benefits of feedback tones were greatest when they were close in pitch to the metronome and the left hand triggered low tones while the right hand triggered high tones. Thus, multilevel coordination was facilitated by tones that were easy to integrate with, but perceptually distinct from, the metronome, and by compatibility of movement patterns and feedback pitches. KeywordsMotor Coordination; Auditory Feedback; Perceptual Motor Processes; Finger Tapping Skilled human activity often involves precise temporal coordination at multiple levels. For example, in musical ensembles, performers coordinate their own body parts when manipulating instruments in order to produce sounds that are coordinated with the sounds of other performers. The intricate interlocking of instrumental parts in Balinese Gamelan music (especially in the kotekan style of playing) illustrates superbly how adept humans can become at such multilevel coordination. Here, and in more common activities such as dancing to music, there are two primary levels of coordination: (1) intra-personal -between an individual's own body parts (e.g., two hands or feet), and (2) inter-agent -between one's own actions and externally controlled events (e.g., another's actions or the effects thereof). 1 Keller and Repp (2004) investigated simultaneous intra-personal and inter-agent coordination using a task that requires the left and right hands to move in alternation (intra-personal Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. 1 The term 'inter-agent' is used rather than 'inter-personal' because many instances of coordination at this level, both in the laboratory (e.g., finger tapping in time with a metronome) and in the real world (synchronizing with computer-generated and/or recorded music), involve a human and a machine. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript coordination) to produce finger taps at the midpoint between the tones of an auditory metronome (inter-agent coordination) (see Figure 1...

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