Studies in auditory timing: 2. Rhythm patterns

Abstract

Listeners discriminated between 6-tone rhythmic patterns that differed only in the delay of the temporal position of one of the tones. On each trial, feedback was given and the subject's performance determined the amount of delay on the next trial. The 6 tones of the patterns marked off 5 intervals. In the first experiment, patterns comprised 3 "short" and 2 "long" intervals: 12121, 21121, and so forth, where the long (2) was twice the length of a short (1). In the second experiment, patterns were the complements of the patterns in the first experiment and comprised 2 shorts and 3 longs: 21212, 12212, and so forth. Each pattern was tested 45 times (5 positions ofthe delayed tone x 3 tempos x 3 replications). Consistent with previous work on simple interval discrimination, absolute discrimination (At in milliseconds) was poorer the longer the intervals (i.e., the slower the tempo). Measures of relative discrimination (At/t, where t was the short interval, the long interval, or the average of 2 intervals surrounding the delayed tone) were better the slower the tempo. Beyond these global results, large interactions of pattern with position of the delayed tone and tempo suggest that different models of performance are needed to explain behavior at the different tempos. A Weber's law model fit the slow-tempo data better than did a model based on positions of

Sensitivity to event timing in regular and irregular sequences: Influences of musical skill

“…In these sequences, if the time interval, T, of the Weber fraction, (JND)/T, is taken as the constant IOI (where JND refers to a just noticeable time difference), then the above findings are consistent with Weber's law. Because these thresholds agree (roughly) with earlier findings based on isolated pairs of time intervals (e.g., Abel, 1972;Allan, 1979;Creelman, 1962;Getty, 1975;Small & Campbell, 1962), Monahan and Hirsh (1990) concluded that "temporal interval discrimination for tonal onsets in a sequence oftones was similar to older results for the discrimination of single temporal intervals" (p. 227). However, there is also evidence that in various nonisochronous sequences, contextual relationships related to frequency and timing properties of sequence elements influence listeners' relative threshold for discriminating a time change (Bharucha & Pryor, 1986;Hirsh et al, 1990;Jones et al, in press;Kidd & Watson, 1990;Van Noorden, 1975).…”

“…In addition, effects of context may be more evident with skilled listeners who can "make the most" of pattern structure, perhaps by extracting an especially effective temporal reference frame, T. A null hypothesis along these lines is based on the average Weber model of Monahan and Hirsh (1990), which focuses on local temporal context, namely test cycle lOIs. Because averages of test cycle lOIs (mean = 800 msec) are identical for regular and irregular sequences, if these are the primary determinant of listeners' T, then global context should have no effect on performance.…”

“…However, there is also evidence that in various nonisochronous sequences, contextual relationships related to frequency and timing properties of sequence elements influence listeners' relative threshold for discriminating a time change (Bharucha & Pryor, 1986;Hirsh et al, 1990;Jones et al, in press;Kidd & Watson, 1990;Van Noorden, 1975). Accordingly, Monahan and Hirsh (1990) recently proposed a variant of Weber's law, the average Weber model, to describe rhythmic context effects observed in sequences where lOis varied with corresponding changes in difference limens. Here T is no longer based on the average (or fixed) 101 within an entire sequence but rather on the average of the two lOis neighboring a time change (.…”

Chronometric evidence for entrained attention

“…Barnes and Jones (2000) found that duration judgments about a standard and a comparison interval were most accurate when the temporal context preceding the standard had a simple harmonic relationship to the standard interval. In all of these studies, temporal context altered sensitivity to temporal information in a direction consistent with a coupled oscillator mechanism.The use of near-threshold detection measures of timing has invited comparisons between DAT and temporal information processing theories, such as the multiplelook model (Drake & Botte, 1993), the average Weber model (Monahan & Hirsh, 1990), and Povel's clock model (Povel, 1981;Povel & Essens, 1985). These models assert the distribution of a psychological duration code extracted from environmental durations, which is further asserted to relate to performance on various time perception tasks.…”

“…The use of near-threshold detection measures of timing has invited comparisons between DAT and temporal information processing theories, such as the multiplelook model (Drake & Botte, 1993), the average Weber model (Monahan & Hirsh, 1990), and Povel's clock model (Povel, 1981;Povel & Essens, 1985). These models assert the distribution of a psychological duration code extracted from environmental durations, which is further asserted to relate to performance on various time perception tasks.…”