Auditory Feedback Assists Post hoc Error Correction of Temporal Reproduction, and Perception of Self-Produced Time Intervals in Subsecond Range.

Keita Mitani,Makio Kashino

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02325

Keita Mitani, Makio Kashino

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02325

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Abstract

We examined whether auditory feedback assists the post hoc error correction of temporal reproduction, and the perception of self-produced time intervals in the subsecond and suprasecond ranges. Here, we employed a temporal reproduction task with a single motor response at a point in time with and without auditory feedback. This task limits participants to reducing errors by employing auditory feedback in a post hoc manner. Additionally, the participants were asked to judge the self-produced timing in this task. The results showed that, in the presence of auditory feedback, the participants exhibited smaller variability and bias in terms of temporal reproduction and the perception of self-produced time intervals in the subsecond range but not in the suprasecond range. Furthermore, in the presence of auditory feedback, the positive serial dependency of temporal reproduction, which is the tendency of reproduced intervals to be similar to those in adjacent trials, was reduced in the subsecond range but not in the suprasecond range. These results suggest that auditory feedback assists the post hoc error correction of temporal reproduction, and the perception of self-produced time intervals in the subsecond range.

Highlights

Timing is essential during various activities, such as performing music and playing sports
We investigated whether auditory feedback affects the performance of temporal reproduction with a single motor response at a point in time, and the perception of self-produced time intervals in the subsecond and suprasecond ranges
The results indicated that auditory feedback improves both temporal reproduction and the perception of self-produced time intervals in the subsecond range but not in the suprasecond range

Summary

Introduction

Timing is essential during various activities, such as performing music and playing sports. Bias and variance in timing tasks have been utilized to construct models of temporal behavior (for review see Repp, 2005; Grondin, 2010; Repp and Su, 2013; Shi et al, 2013a). Bias and variance can be affected by feedback processing using self-produced timing information. When we play a musical instrument, we perceive the self-produced timing of its sound, and adjust our subsequent motor timing based on sensory information. The quality of the sensory information as regards self-produced timing (i.e., sensory feedback) is sometimes degraded, depending on the external environment. If we are in a loud environment, information on self-produced timing of auditory inputs are typically degraded

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