Relational invariance of expressive microstructure across global tempo changes in music performance: An exploratory study

Summary This study addressed the question of whether the expressive microstructure of a music performance remains relationally invariant across moderate (musically acceptable) changes in tempo. Two pianists played Schumann's Träumerei three times at each of three tempi on a digital piano, and the performance data were recorded in MIDI format. In a perceptual test, musically trained listeners attempted to distinguish the original performances from performances that had been artificially speeded up or slowed down to the same overall duration. Accuracy in this task was barely above chance, suggesting that relational invariance was largely preserved. Subsequent analysis of the MIDI data confirmed that each pianist's characteristic timing patterns were highly similar across the three tempi, although there were statistically significant deviations from perfect relational invariance. The timing of (relatively slow) grace notes seemed relationally invariant, but selective examination of other detailed temporal features (chord asynchrony, tone overlap, pedal timing) revealed no systematic scaling with tempo. Finally, although the intensity profile seemed unaffected by tempo, a slight overall increase in intensity with tempo was observed. Effects of musical structure on expressive microstructure were large and pervasive at all levels, as were individual differences between the two pianists. For the specific composition and range of tempi considered here, these results suggest that major (cognitively controlled) temporal and dynamic features of a performance change roughly in proportion with tempo, whereas minor features tend to be governed by tempo-independent motoric constraints.     

Ideomotor effects of pitch on continuation tapping

The ideomotor principle predicts that perception will modulate action where overlap exists between perceptual and motor representations of action. This effect is demonstrated with auditory stimuli. Previous perceptual evidence suggests that pitch contour and pitch distance in tone sequences may elicit tonal motion effects consistent with listeners' implicit awareness of the lawful dynamics of locomotive bodies. To examine modulating effects of perception on action, participants in a continuation tapping task produced a steady tempo. Auditory tones were triggered by each tap. Pitch contour randomly and persistently varied within trials. Pitch distance between successive tones varied between trials. Although participants were instructed to ignore them, tones systematically affected finger dynamics and timing. Where pitch contour implied positive acceleration, the following tap and the intertap interval (ITI) that it completed were faster. Where pitch contour implied negative acceleration, the following tap and the ITI that it completed were slower. Tempo was faster with greater pitch distance. Musical training did not predict the magnitude of these effects. There were no generalized effects on timing variability. Pitch contour findings demonstrate how tonal motion may elicit the spontaneous production of accents found in expressive music performance.     

Memory for musical tempo: Additional evidence that auditory memory is absolute

We report evidence that long-term memory retains absolute (accurate) features of perceptual events. Specifically, we show that memory for music seems to preserve the absolute tempo of the musical performance. In Experiment 1, 46 subjects sang two different popular songs from memory, and their tempos were compared with recorded versions of the songs. Seventy-two percent of the productions on two consecutive trials came within 8% of the actual tempo, demonstrating accuracy near the perceptual threshold (JND) for tempo. In Experiment 2, a control experiment, we found that folk songs lacking a tempo standard generally have a large variability in tempo; this counters arguments that memory for the tempo of remembered songs is driven by articulatory constraints. The relevance of the present findings to theories of perceptual memory and memory for music is discussed.     

音乐节拍速度变化的辨别优势认知研究

辨别节拍速度变化是音乐认知能力的重要组成部分。本文通过控制节拍速度的变化量(15%、10%、8%、5%、2%)、变化方向(提前与滞后)、节拍类型(2拍子和3拍子)3个变量,比较了音乐专业大学生和非音乐专业大学生对于节拍速度变化的感知能力。研究结果显示：人们对提前的变化比滞后的变化更敏感,并且这种知觉优势在3拍子条件下更为明显。同时音乐组被试对节拍速度变化的辨别能力显著高于非音乐组,并且这种优势在3拍子中更明显。     

Liked Music Increases Spatial Rotation Performance Regardless of Tempo

Performance on spatial rotation tasks has been shown to improve following listening to music that one likes with the explanation that the fast tempo, and the major mode associated with it, increases arousal and mood. However, given that research also shows that people sometimes like slow-tempo music as much as fast-tempo music it seems remiss that this preference effect has not been explored for slow-tempo music. We extend previous findings by using a more ecologically-valid method and explore whether the tempo effect was independent of the preference for the music, especially when the music is of a slow tempo. Participants listened to both liked and disliked music, in either a fast or slow tempo, prior to completing a series of spatial rotation tasks. In both tempos, liked music was associated with significantly better spatial rotation performance than disliked music. Interestingly, disliked, fast-tempo music was no better than liked, slow-tempo music. Results are discussed with respect to the arousal and mood literature.     

Variability of timing in expressive piano performance increases with interval duration

In simple motor tasks such as finger tapping at different constant rates, within-trial variability of response interonset intervals (IOIs) increases with IOI duration (which varies between trials). In expressive piano performance, the rate of key depressions is not constant, in part due to compositional structure and in part due to expressive timing, so that IOIs of many different durations occur within a single “trial.” Nevertheless, across repeated performances of the same music (Schumann’s “Träumerei” and Debussy’s “La fille aux cheveux de lin”) at the same intended tempo, the standard deviations of individual IOIs tend to increase linearly with their average duration. This is also true when the variation is due to expressive timing alone and when unintended differences in basic tempo between performances are taken into account. In the music studied here, at least, there was no evidence of compensatory timing. The results suggest that the pianists employed a continuously variable tempo governed by a flexible internal timekeeper whose variability follows a generalized Weber’s law (for IOIs longer than about 300 msec).     

Timing in solo and duet piano performances

Perhaps some of the most refined forms of timing arise in musical performance, particularly in the coordination between musicians playing together. Studies of timing in solo and duet piano performances are described, in which the musicians gave repeat performances of the music. In both solo and duet performances there was expressive use of timing, modulating the tempo of the music and the phase relationship between the voices, and the expressive forms were similar in successive performances of the piece. There was also evidence of separate timing control of the metre and of the production of notes and rests. Thus timing in musical performance is best modelled by assuming two levels of timekeeper, one pacing the metre and the other contained in the movement trajectories of note production, computed by motor procedure in relation to the metre. It is argued that expressive forms are derived from an interpretation of the music rather than memorized; and that coordination between voices in the music is achieved at the level of the metre.     

The effect of tempo on pedal timing in piano performance

The temporal coordination of hand and foot actions in piano performance is an interesting instance of highly practiced, perceptually guided complex motor behavior. To gain some insight into the nature of this coordination, ten pianists were asked to play two excerpts from the piano literature that required repeated use of the damper pedal to connect successive chords. Each excerpt was played at three prescribed tempos on a Yamaha Disklavier and was recorded in MIDI format. The question of interest was whether and how changes in tempo would affect the timing of pedal releases and depressions within the periods defined by successive manual chord onsets. Theoretical possibilities ranged from absolute invariance (variable phase relationships) to relative invariance of pedal timing (constant phase relationships). The results show that, typically, the timing of pedal actions is neither absolutely nor relatively invariant: As the tempo increases, both pedal releases and depressions usually occur a little sooner and pedal changes (release-depression sequences) are executed a little more quickly, but these effects are proportionally smaller than the changes in manual (and pedal) period duration. Since this may be due to unequal changes in peripheral hand and foot kinematics with tempo, it remains possible that there is invariance of either kind at the level of central motor commands. However, it is the peripheral timing that produces the acoustic consequences musicians try to achieve.     

The effects of music tempo on simulated driving performance and vehicular control

The automobile is currently the most popular and frequently reported location for listening to music. Yet, not much is known about the effects of music on driving performance, and only a handful of studies report that music-evoked arousal generated by loudness decreases automotive performance. Nevertheless, music tempo increases driving risks by competing for attentional space; the greater number of temporal events which must be processed, and the frequency of temporal changes which require larger memory storage, distract operations and optimal driving capacities. The current study explored the effects of music tempo on PC-controlled simulated driving. It was hypothesized that simulated driving while listening to fast-paced music would increase heart rate (HR), decrease simulated lap time, and increase virtual traffic violations. The study found that music tempo consistently affected both simulated driving speed and perceived speed estimates: as the tempo of background music increased, so too did simulated driving speed and speed estimate. Further, the tempo of background music consistently affected the frequency of virtual traffic violations: disregarded red traffic-lights (RLs), lane crossings (LNs), and collisions (ACs) were most frequent with fast-paced music. The number of music-related automobile accidents and fatalities is not a known statistic. Police investigators, drivers, and traffic researchers themselves are not mindful of the risks associated with listening to music while driving. Implications of the study point to a need for drivers' education courses to raise public awareness about the effects of music during driving.     

Does expressive timing in music performance scale proportionally with tempo?

Summary Evidence is presented that expressive timing in music is not relationally invariant with global tempo. Our results stem from an analysis of repeated performances of Beethoven's variations on a Paisiello theme. Recordings were made of two pianists playing the pieces at three tempi. In contrast with the relational-invariance hypothesis (see Repp, 1994), between-tempo correlations were in general lower than within-tempo correlations. Analyses of variance of log-transformed inter-onset intervals (IOIs) showed significant interactions between tempo and IOI, i. e., evidence against a proportional relation between timing and tempo. Complex, but consistent, nonproportional patterns were shown in the analyses of the timing of the grace notes in the piece. The analysis suggests that timing aspects of music are closely linked to the musical structure and can be studied and manipulated only respecting this relation — not as a global timing pattern or tempo curve. Finally, it is shown that methodological issues of data collection and analysis had a significant influence on the results.     

The effects of music on time perception and performance of a driving game

Cassidy, G.G. & MacDonald, R.A.R. (2010). The effects of music on time perception and performance of a driving game. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 455–464. There is an established and growing body of evidence highlighting that music can influence behavior across a range of diverse domains ( Miell, MacDonald, & Hargreaves 2005 ). One area of interest is the monitoring of “internal timing mechanisms”, with features such as tempo, liking, perceived affective nature and everyday listening contexts implicated as important ( North & Hargreaves, 2008 ). The current study addresses these issues by comparing the effects of self‐selected and experimenter‐selected music (fast and slow) on actual and perceived performance of a driving game activity. Seventy participants completed three laps of a driving game in seven sound conditions: (1) silence; (2) car sounds; (3) car sounds with self‐selected music, and car sounds with experimenter‐selected music; (4) high‐arousal (70 bpm); (5) high‐arousal (130 bpm); (6) low‐arousal (70 bpm); and (7) low‐arousal (130 bpm) music. Six performance measures (time, accuracy, speed, and retrospective perception of these), and four experience measures (perceived distraction, liking, appropriateness and enjoyment) were taken. Exposure to self‐selected music resulted in overestimation of elapsed time and inaccuracy, while benefiting accuracy and experience. In contrast, exposure to experimenter‐selected music resulted in poorest performance and experience. Increasing the tempo of experimenter‐selected music resulted in faster performance and increased inaccuracy for high‐arousal music, but did not impact experience. It is suggested that personal meaning and subjective associations connected to self‐selected music promoted increased engagement with the activity, overriding detrimental effects attributed to unfamiliar, less liked and less appropriate experimenter‐selected music.     

Walking on music

The present study focuses on the intricate relationship between human body movement and music, in particular on how music may influence the way humans walk. In an experiment, participants were asked to synchronize their walking tempo with the tempo of musical and metronome stimuli. The walking tempo and walking speed were measured. The tempi of the stimuli varied between 50 and 190 beats per minute. The data revealed that people walk faster on music than on metronome stimuli and that walking on music can be modeled as a resonance phenomenon that is related to the perceptual resonance phenomenon as described by Van Noorden and Moelants (Van Noorden, L., & Moelants, D. (1999). Resonance in the perception of musical pulse. Journal of New Music Research, 28, 43-66).     

音乐的速度与调式对大学生情绪影响的实证研究

以92名大学本科生为实验对象,用剪辑的8首乐曲片断为实验材料,考察其调式和速度对大学生情绪的影响。结果表明:乐曲片断的速度对大学生的情绪影响非常显著,但调式的主效应不显著;慢速的乐曲易于诱发大学生忧伤、悲哀、痛苦、烦躁和愤恨等负性情绪;快速的乐曲大多数导致大学生愉悦与兴奋等正性情绪。乐曲的速度与调式对大学生情绪影响的差异十分显著。速度在调式上两水平的差异显著,尤其是在大调上差异非常显著。但调式只有在慢速水平上差异十分显著,而在快速水平上差异不显著。     

镜像等效或守恒及其打破：从行为到认知神经机制的研究证据

镜像等效或守恒是动物与人类个体对两侧对称自然物体的一种进化自适应加工。但是, 这种知觉特性会妨碍包含镜像字符的文字阅读学习。阅读者有必要学会利用镜像泛化抑制的“去学习”机制, 打破镜像等效或守恒, 以获得识别镜像字符的能力。这一过程中, 左侧梭状回皮层通过与早期视觉皮层、顶叶皮层和口语脑网络的交互作用, 逐渐发展出一个可以识别镜像字符的视觉词形区(visual word form area, VWFA)。今后的研究需要关注两半球及其连合纤维在镜像等效或守恒加工中的作用、镜像泛化与抑制的详尽加工机制及其对镜像书写的影响、正常汉语儿童的汉字镜像泛化加工等问题。     

The perception of tempo in music

Tempo is one factor that is frequently associated with the expressive nature of a piece of music. Composers often indicate the tempo of a piece of music through the use of numerical markings (beats min(-1)) and subjective terms (adagio, allegro). Three studies were conducted to assess whether listeners were able to make consistent judgments about tempo that varied from piece to piece. Listeners heard short extracts of Scottish music played at a range of tempi and were asked to make a two-alternative forced choice of "too fast" or "too slow" for each extract. The responses for each study were plotted as proportion of too fast responses as a function of tempo for each piece, and cumulative normal curves were fitted to each data set. The point where these curves cross 0.5 is the tempo at which the music sounds right to the listeners, referred to as the optimal tempo. The results from each study show that listeners are capable of making consistent tempo judgments and that the optimal tempo varies across extracts. The results also revealed that rhythm plays a role, but not the only role in making temporal judgments.     

Reexamination of mood-mediation hypothesis of background-music-dependent effects in free recall

The present study reexamined the mood-mediation hypothesis for explaining background-music-dependent effects in free recall. Experiments 1 and 2 respectively examined tempo- and tonality-dependent effects in free recall, which had been used as evidence for the mood-mediation hypothesis. In Experiments 1 and 2, undergraduates (n?=?75 per experiment) incidentally learned a list of 20 unrelated words presented one by one at a rate of 5 s per word and then received a 30-s delayed oral free-recall test. Throughout the study and test sessions, a piece of music was played. At the time of test, one third of the participants received the same piece of music with the same tempo or tonality as at study, one third heard a different piece with the same tempo or tonality, and one third heard a different piece with a different tempo or tonality. Note that the condition of the same piece with a different tempo or tonality was excluded. Furthermore, the number of sampled pieces of background music was increased compared with previous studies. The results showed neither tempo- nor tonality-dependent effects, but only a background-music-dependent effect. Experiment 3 (n?=?40) compared the effects of background music with a verbal association task and focal music (only listening to musical selections) on the participants’ moods. The results showed that both the music tempo and tonality influenced the corresponding mood dimensions (arousal and pleasantness). These results are taken as evidence against the mood-mediation hypothesis. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Timing dysfunctions in schizophrenia as measured by a repetitive finger tapping task

Schizophrenia may be associated with a fundamental disturbance in the temporal coordination of information processing in the brain, leading to classic symptoms of schizophrenia such as thought disorder and disorganized and contextually inappropriate behavior. Although a variety of behavioral studies have provided strong evidence for perceptual timing deficits in schizophrenia, no study to date has directly examined overt temporal performance in schizophrenia using a task that differentially engages perceptual and motor-based timing processes. The present study aimed to isolate perceptual and motor-based temporal performance in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia using a repetitive finger-tapping task that has previously been shown to differentially engage brain regions associated with perceptual and motor-related timing behavior. Thirty-two individuals with schizophrenia and 31 non-psychiatric control participants completed the repetitive finger-tapping task, which required participants to first tap in time with computer-generated tones separated by a fixed intertone interval (tone-paced tapping), after which the tones were discontinued and participants were required to continue tapping at the established pace (self-paced tapping). Participants with schizophrenia displayed significantly faster tapping rates for both tone- and self-paced portions of the task compared to the non-psychiatric group. Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia also displayed greater tapping variability during both tone- and self-paced portions of the task. The application of a mathematical timing model further indicated that group differences were primarily attributable to increased timing – as opposed to task implementation – difficulties in the schizophrenia group, which is noteworthy given the broad range of impairments typically associated with the disorder. These findings support the contention that schizophrenia is associated with a broad range of timing difficulties, including those associated with time perception as well as time production.     

Manual motor reaction while being absorbed into popular music

In three experiments, we investigated the behavioral consequences of being absorbed into music on performance in a concurrent task. We tested two competing hypotheses: Based on a cognitive load account, captivation of attention by the music and state absorption might slow down reactions in the decisional task. Alternatively, music could induce spontaneous motor activity, and being absorbed in music might result in a more autonomous, flow-driven behavior with quicker motor reactions. Participants performed a simple, visual, two-alternative forced-choice task while listening to popular musical excerpts. Subsequently, they rated their subjective experience using a short questionnaire. We presented music in four tempo categories (between 80 and 140 BPM) to account for a potential effect of tempo and an interaction between tempo and absorption. In Experiment 1, absorption was related to decreased reaction times (RTs) in the visual task. This effect was small, as expected in this setting, but replicable in Experiment 2. There was no effect of the music’s tempo on RTs but a tendency of mind wandering to relate to task performance. After slightly changing the study setting in Experiment 3, flow predicted decreased RTs, but absorption alone — as part of the flow construct — did not predict RTs. To sum up, we demonstrated that being absorbed in music can have the behavioral consequence of speeded manual reactions in specific task contexts, and people seem to integrate the music into an active, flow-driven and therefore enhanced performance. However, shown relations depend on task settings, and a systematic study of context is necessary to understand how induced states and their measurement contribute to the findings.     

Timing dysfunctions in schizophrenia as measured by a repetitive finger tapping task

Schizophrenia may be associated with a fundamental disturbance in the temporal coordination of information processing in the brain, leading to classic symptoms of schizophrenia such as thought disorder and disorganized and contextually inappropriate behavior. Although a variety of behavioral studies have provided strong evidence for perceptual timing deficits in schizophrenia, no study to date has directly examined overt temporal performance in schizophrenia using a task that differentially engages perceptual and motor-based timing processes. The present study aimed to isolate perceptual and motor-based temporal performance in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia using a repetitive finger-tapping task that has previously been shown to differentially engage brain regions associated with perceptual and motor-related timing behavior. Thirty-two individuals with schizophrenia and 31 non-psychiatric control participants completed the repetitive finger-tapping task, which required participants to first tap in time with computer-generated tones separated by a fixed intertone interval (tone-paced tapping), after which the tones were discontinued and participants were required to continue tapping at the established pace (self-paced tapping). Participants with schizophrenia displayed significantly faster tapping rates for both tone- and self-paced portions of the task compared to the non-psychiatric group. Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia also displayed greater tapping variability during both tone- and self-paced portions of the task. The application of a mathematical timing model further indicated that group differences were primarily attributable to increased timing – as opposed to task implementation – difficulties in the schizophrenia group, which is noteworthy given the broad range of impairments typically associated with the disorder. These findings support the contention that schizophrenia is associated with a broad range of timing difficulties, including those associated with time perception as well as time production.     

Perceived tempo change is dependent on base tempo and direction of change: Evidence for a generalized version of Schulze's (1978) internal beat model

Assumptions of a theory, still influential, of tempo perception by Schulze (1978) are reconsidered in view of counter-evidence from other time-perception and timing studies. Specifically, it is shown that the role of base tempo of stimuli and the orientation of tempo change (acceleration versus deceleration) have to be incorporated in them. Therefore, Schulze's assumptions were extended so as to include the two stimulus parameters. A generalized version of Schulze's internal beat model, one of three formal elaborations of the theory, was tested in an experiment which required subjects (N = 17) to tell the direction of change (acceleration or deceleration) in metronomic tone sequences presented at tempi of 1, 2, or 4 Hz, the amount of tempo change being varied in steps of 2% between –10% (acceleration) and + 10%, including zero change. Psychometric curves obtained from logistic regression analysis showed the limitation of the original assumptions and supported the proposed generalization of Schulze's model. The validity of the theoretical interpretation of the data was discussed with respect to some methodological constraints in the experiment, such as the presentation of the different tempo conditions and the time length of the metronomic stimuli used, and with respect to their applicability to the performance of expressive drift (rubato versus accelerando) in music.