Musically trained subjects tapped three beats with their right hand versus two beats with their left hand in synchrony with two corresponding tones. For independent groups of subjects, the pitch difference of the two tones was either small to encourage an integrated perceptual organization or large to encourage a streamed perceptual organization. Integrated versus parallel motor organization was tested by examining the pattern of covariances among intertap intervals. All subjects exhibited integrated motor organization. An integrated multiplicative hierarchical model of motor organization was superior to a serial chained model and to an independent hierarchical model in describing the pattern of covariances. The subjects who heard tones that encouraged an integrated percept performed with less variability than the subjects who heard tones that encouraged a streamed percept. This superior performance with an integrated motor organization and an integrated rather than a streamed perceptual organization is interpreted as evidence for temporal perceptual-motor compatibility.

Two experiments explore hypotheses about rhythm and contour in recognition of simple pitch strings (melodies). Target melodies that differed with respect to pitch relationships (interval and contour pitch differences) and rhythm, were presented to ordinary listeners who were told to learn the melodies (Phase I). In a subsequent recognition test (Phase II), listeners had to recognize these same target melodies although they were transposed to a different musical key. In recognition, target melodies appeared in the original rhythm or in new rhythms that simulated some pause properties of the original rhythm. Target melodies were interspersed with decoy melodies that either preserved the pitch contour of targets or did not; all appeared in the original rhythm and in new rhythms. Results indicated that a new rhythmic context lowered recognizability of target melodies, and that decoys were most confusing when they possessed the same “dynamic shape” (contour-plus-rhythm) as targets (Experiment 1). Also, target recognition improved with Phase I familiarity (Experiment 2), although rhythmic shifts remained detrimental across levels of target familiarity. Confusions based on “dynamic shape” accounted for a relatively high proportion of errors where familiarity with targets is low. Findings were interpreted in terms of a theory of context-sensitive dynamic attending in which remembering is assumed to involve recapitulation of the original rhythmical activities involved in attending to melodies.

Two studies investigated the respective roles of pattern contour (number of contour changes), rule invariance, contour shape, and rate upon the recognition of 8-tone auditory sequences. Tonal patterns contained 0, 1, 2, or 3 contour changes, which were introduced in conjunction with a randomly selected musical interval (rule-variant patterns) or with predictable (rule-governed) musical transformations (rule-invariant patterns). Patterns were either symmetrical or asymmetrical in shape. Listeners discriminated transposed standards from distractor patterns that contained an order reversal. In Experiment 1, where patterns occurred at a slow rate, performance decreased as number of contour changes increased. No effects of rule invariance or contour shape were found. In Experiment 2, where patterns occurred at a rate twice that of Experiment 1, more contour changes again had a detrimental effect. In addition, rule-invariant patterns were easier than rule-variant patterns. Results suggest that contour contributes to temporal order confusion in a systematic way.