Intramodal and crossmodal sensory transfer of visual and auditory temporal patterns

Temporal pattern perception for vision and audition was measured using pair comparisons of precisely determined rhythms as test items. Visual rhythms were more difficult to match than were comparable auditory ones. Crossmodal transfer equaled intramodal transfer in one experiment but was inferior in another. The differences between intra- and crossmodal transfer were related to the frequency of pattern elements, with crossmodal performance decreasing more when frequency rose. The nine test items showed a consistency in relative difficulty across experimental conditions. Differences in item difficulty were related to the symmetry of the first pattern in the item.