Abstract
The vast majority of humans move in time with a musical beat. This behaviour has been mostly studied through finger-tapping synchronization. Here, we evaluate naturalistic synchronization responses to music–bouncing and clapping–in 100 university students. Their ability to match the period of their bounces and claps to those of a metronome and musical clips varying in beat saliency was assessed. In general, clapping was better synchronized with the beat than bouncing, suggesting that the choice of a specific movement type is an important factor to consider in the study of sensorimotor synchronization processes. Performance improved as a function of beat saliency, indicating that beat abstraction plays a significant role in synchronization. Fourteen percent of the population exhibited marked difficulties with matching the beat. Yet, at a group level, poor synchronizers showed similar sensitivity to movement type and beat saliency as normal synchronizers. These results suggest the presence of quantitative rather than qualitative variations when losing the beat.
Highlights
Humans move to musical rhythms by nodding the head, clapping the hands or dancing in time with perceived periodicities in musical stimuli–that is, with the musical beat
We describe the procedure we applied to each trial to determine whether participants successfully matched their movements to the tempo (‘Normal Synchronization’) or not (‘Poor Synchronization’)
We examined the role of movements and beat saliency in synchronization to music using naturalistic stimuli and movements
Summary
Humans move to musical rhythms by nodding the head, clapping the hands or dancing in time with perceived periodicities in musical stimuli–that is, with the musical beat. Such movements are spontaneous and observed across cultures [1]. Finger tapping leaves out important aspects of the processes involved in SMS to music, such as the diversity of natural movements and the feedback they provide, as well as the pleasurable aspect of moving to music. Different timing and motor control mechanisms may underlie the production of continuous versus discrete periodic movements (such as tapping). Emergent properties of the movement dynamics and the PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0160178 July 29, 2016
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