Abstract
To account for sensorimotor synchronization, the information processing and the dynamical systems perspectives have developed different classes of models. While the former has focused on cycle-to-cycle correction of the timing errors, the latter deals with a continuous, state-dependent within-cycle coupling between the oscillating limb and the metronome. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent to which the two modeling frameworks partially capture the same behavior or, instead, account for different aspects of synchronization. A comparative two-level analysis (time intervals and movement trajectories) of synchronized tapping and synchronized oscillation data revealed distinct patterns of results with regard to (1) the relationship between the (a)symmetry of movement cycles and the achievement of timing goals, and (2) the sequential or within-cycle organization of synchronization processes. Our results support the idea that movement trajectories contribute to the achievement of synchronized movement timing in two different ways as a function of the (dis)continuous nature of movement. We suggest that the two modeling frameworks indeed account for different synchronization processes involved in the process of keeping time with the beat.
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Notes
Event-based timing, associated with discontinuous rhythmic movement, has been conceived in accordance with the two-level architecture of the Wing and Kristofferson (1973) model: At the timekeeper level, discrete cognitive events delimit the successive time intervals to produce and trigger the execution of the taps at the motor level. The execution of each tap is assumed to be affected by a random (white noise) motor delay. Thus, each produced time interval is affected by differenced white noise which yields the negative lag 1 autocorrelation in the series of periods. Emergent timing, associated with continuous rhythmic movement, is assumed to involve a continuous regulation of the parameters (e.g., oscillator stiffness) that determine the period of an oscillating limb. Therefore, each produced period is affected by a single noise term which predicts no negative lag 1 autocorrelation in the series of periods.
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Torre, K., Balasubramaniam, R. Two different processes for sensorimotor synchronization in continuous and discontinuous rhythmic movements. Exp Brain Res 199, 157–166 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1991-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1991-2