The embodiment of musical structure: effects of musical context on sensorimotor synchronization with complex timing patterns

Abstract

Abstract Abstract. Two experiments demonstrate that musical context facilitates sensorimotor synchronization with complex timing patterns that are compatible with the musical structure. Several very different timing patterns were derived from an analysis of expressive performances of a musical excerpt. A random pattern (Exp. 1) or phase-shifted versions of the musical patterns (Exp. 2) served as comparisons, and an isochronous pattern served as practice. Musically trained participants 1rst attempted repeatedly to synchronize their 1nger taps with click sequences instantiating these timing patterns. Subsequent repetitions of the click sequences were accompanied by the identically timed music, and 1nally, the music disappeared and was only to be imagined in synchrony with the clicks. Compared with the random or phase-shifted patterns, synchronization accuracy for the musical patterns improved as soon as the music was introduced, especially when the pattern was highly typical. This relative improvement was reduced or absent when the music was merely imagined. Nevertheless, both musical context and imagery systematically modulated the timing of 1nger taps in synchronization with strictly isochronous click sequences. Thus perception or imagination of musical structure can involuntarily affect the timing of concurrent action, presumably by modulating the timekeeping processes that pace the motor behavior. This study also demonstrates that radically different timing patterns are compatible with the same musical structure, as they seem to be in expert artistic performance.