Here, we demonstrate that "moving to the beat" can improve the perception of timing, providing an intriguing explanation as to why we often move when listening to music. In the first experiment, participants heard a series of isochronous beats and identified whether the timing of a final tone after a short silence was consistent with the timing of the preceding sequence. On half of the trials, participants tapped along with the beat, and on half of the trials, they listened without moving. When the final tone occurred later than expected, performance in the movement condition was significantly better than performance in the no-movement condition. Two additional experiments illustrate that this improved performance is due to improved timekeeping, rather than to a shift in strategy. This work contributes to a growing literature on sensorimotor integration by demonstrating body movement's objective improvement in timekeeping, complementing previous explorations involving subjective tasks.

People readily extract regularity in rhythmic auditory patterns, enabling prediction of the onset of the next beat. Recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) research suggests that such prediction is reflected by the entrainment of oscillatory networks in the brain to the tempo of the sequence. In particular, induced beta-band oscillatory activity from auditory cortex decreases after each beat onset and rebounds prior to the onset of the next beat across tempi in a predictive manner. The objective of the present study was to examine the development of such oscillatory activity by comparing electroencephalography (EEG) measures of beta-band fluctuations in 7-year-old children to adults. EEG was recorded while participants listened passively to isochronous tone sequences at three tempi (390, 585, and 780 ms for onset-to-onset interval). In adults, induced power in the high beta-band (20–25 Hz) decreased after each tone onset and rebounded prior to the onset of the next tone across tempo conditions, consistent with MEG findings. In children, a similar pattern was measured in the two slower tempo conditions, but was weaker in the fastest condition. The results indicate that the beta-band timing network works similarly in children, although there are age-related changes in consistency and the tempo range over which it operates.

Many studies demonstrate that musicians exhibit superior timing abilities compared to nonmusicians. Here, we investigated how specific musical expertise can mediate the relationship between movement and timing perception. In the present study, a group of highly trained percussionists (n = 33) and a group of non-percussionists (n = 33) were tested on their ability to detect temporal deviations of a tone presented after an isochronous sequence. Participants either tapped along with the sequence using a drumstick (movement condition) or listened without tapping (no-movement condition). Although both groups performed significantly better when moving than when listening alone, percussionists gained a greater benefit from tapping when detecting the smallest probe tone delays compared to non-percussionists. This complements both the musical expertise and timing perception literature by demonstrating that percussionists with high levels of training may further capitalize on the benefits of sensorimotor interactions. Surprisingly, percussionists and non-percussionists performed no differently when listening alone, in contrast to other studies examining the role of training in timing abilities. This raises interesting questions about the degree to which percussionists' known expertise in timing may interact with their use of motion when judging rhythmic precision.

Motor synchronization is a critical part of musical performance and listening. Recently, motor control research has described how movements that contain more available degrees of freedom are more accurately timed. Previously, we demonstrated that stick tapping improves perception in a timing detection task, where percussionists greatly outperformed non-percussionists only when tapping along. Since most synchronization studies implement finger tapping to examine simple motor synchronization, here we completed a similar task where percussionists and non-percussionists synchronized using finger tapping; movement with fewer degrees of freedom than stick tapping. Percussionists and non-percussionists listened to an isochronous beat sequence and identified the timing of a probe tone. On half of the trials, they tapped along with their index finger, and on the other half of the trials, they listened without moving prior to making timing judgments. We found that both groups benefited from tapping overall. Interestingly, percussionists performed only marginally better than did non-percussionists when finger tapping and no different when listening alone, differing from past studies reporting highly superior timing abilities in percussionists. Additionally, we found that percussionist finger tapping was less variable and less asynchronous than was non-percussionist tapping. Moreover, in both groups finger tapping was more variable and more asynchronous than stick tapping in our previous study. This study demonstrates that the motor effector implemented in tapping studies affects not only synchronization abilities, but also subsequent prediction abilities. We discuss these findings in light of effector-specific training and degrees of freedom in motor timing, both of which impact timing abilities to different extents.

Moving (tapping) to a beat can objectively improve the perception of timing. Here we examine whether auditory feedback from tapping is a requirement for this improvement. In this experiment, two groups of participants heard a series of isochronous beats, and identified whether a probe tone after a short silence was consistent with the timing of the preceding sequence. On half of the trials, participants tapped along on an electronic drum pad up to and including the probe tone, and on half of the trials they listened without tapping. In the auditory feedback (AF) group sounds from tapping were available to participants and in the no auditory feedback (NAF) group these sounds were masked using white noise. In both groups, movement improved timing judgments of the probe tone, however this improvement was more pronounced when auditory feedback was present. Additionally, tapping was more accurate when auditory feedback was available. While previously we demonstrated an effect of movement on perceived timing, here we clarify that movement alone is sufficient to trigger this improvement (independent of the movement’s auditory consequences). We identify the importance of auditory feedback as a cue for movement timing, which subsequently affects perceived timing of an external stimulus. Additionally we have demonstrated that movement alone can improve timing perception, independent of the auditory feedback caused by this movement.