Tempo sensitivity in isochronous tone sequences: the multiple-look model revisited

Factors affecting tempo sensitivity in isochronous tone sequences were investigated in two experiments. Participants listened to tones in sequence conditions in which the number of time intervals in isochronous standard and comparison sequences was varied, and they were asked to judge the tempo of the comparison relative to the standard. When the duration of the standard interval was held constant, tempo sensitivity was affected by the number of comparison intervals, but not by the number of standard intervals. In contrast, when the duration of the standard interval was varied randomly from trial to trial, tempo sensitivity was affected by the number of intervals in both sequences. The present findings are discussed in the context of a generalized multiple-look model that posits independent contributions of both sequences to tempo sensitivity. Quantitative model fits suggest that the relative contribution of the number of the standard intervals to tempo thresholds depends on (1) the availability of a stable long-term referent for the standard tempo and (2) a priori knowledge about the number of standard intervals.