Perception of rhythm by children in multitimbral, multimetric contexts

Abstract

Perception of meter by children aged 6 to 12 was studied using sequences of 12 tones as stimuli. Either no accents, or physical accents at positions implying triple, quadruple, or both meters were provided by changing the spectral locus of four harmonics n, n+1, n+2, n=3, of tones Ln (where n=2 or 6) or the rise/decay times of their temporal envelopes (95+5 ms, vs 5+95 ms). Listeners reported if they perceived a triple, quadruple, or ambiguous meter, or no accents at all. Children were easily able to perceive the metrical structure of sequences with accents on triple or quadruple meter positions alone. Mixed meters were hard to parse in a single-timbre context. In mixed sequences with accents provided by different timbre features at quadruple and triple meter positions, listeners tended to follow the meter implied by tones L2 rather than L6. Temporal envelope variables were not effective in facilitating parsing of mixed meters. Results indicate that young listeners are similar to adults in using timbral information to parse complex meters. Lower harmonics seemed to be more effective carriers of accents than higher harmonics. Spectral resolving power may thus be an important aspect of not just pitch, but rhythm perception as well.