Modelling rhythmic function in a musician post-stroke

Abstract

The aim of this study was to model the components of rhythmic function in a case (H.J.) of acquired rhythmic disturbance. H.J. is a right-handed, amateur male musician who acquired arrhythmia in the context of a global amusia after sustaining a right temporoparietal infarct. His rhythmic disturbance was analysed in relation to three independent components using an autoregressive extension of Wing and Kristofferson's model of rhythmic timing. This revealed preserved error-correction and motor implementation capacities, but a gross disturbance of H.J.'s central timing system ("cognitive clock"). It rendered him unable to generate a steady pulse, prevented adequate discrimination and reproduction of novel metrical rhythms, and partly contributed to bi-manual co-ordination difficulties in his instrumental performance. The findings are considered in relation to the essential components of the cognitive architecture of rhythmic function, and their respective cerebral lateralisation and localisation. Overall, the data suggested that the functioning of the right temporal auditory cortex is fundamental to 'keeping the beat' in music. The approach is presented as a new paradigm for future neuropsychological research examining rhythmic disturbances.

Influence of a tone’s tonal function on temporal change detection

“…Similarly, our finding suggests that the processing of tonal structures interacts with the processing of temporal information at some stage of processing. It integrates into the ongoing debate in music cognition research about whether listeners process structural regularities on pitch and time dimensions independently (e.g., Palmer & Krumhansl, 1987a, 1987bPeretz, 1990Peretz, , 1996Peretz & Kolinsky, 1993;Peretz & Morais, 1980;Piccirilli, Sciarma, & Luzzi, 2000;Wilson, Pressing, & Wales, 2002) or in interaction (e.g., Bigand, 1997;Bigand & Pineau, 1997;Boltz, 1989aBoltz, , 1989bBoltz, , 1991Boltz, , 1993Boltz, , 1995Boltz, , 1998Jones & Boltz, 1989;Jones, Boltz, & Klein, 1993;Schmuckler & Boltz, 1994). Our finding shows that the processing of the temporal dimension is influenced by the pitch dimension (i.e., the tones' tonal functions).…”

Neural Entrainment to the Rhythmic Structure of Music

“…Tracking of beat (the slow pulse forming the most basic rhythmic element of music) and meter (the alternation of stronger and weaker beats that takes place on a faster timescale) may, therefore, be somewhat separable processes. This idea is also supported by a dissociation between beat and meter processing found in the neuropsychological literature on rhythm: Wilson, Pressing, and Wales (2002) report that a patient with a right temporoparietal infarct was impaired in synchronizing movements to a beat but could correctly classify metrical and nonmetrical rhythms. As this patient showed preserved motor function, this deficit was likely indicative of an inability to perceptually track the beat of music.…”

Preserved Singing in Aphasia

“…Peretz (1990;Peretz & Morais, 1993) has previously ascribed this dissociation to the role of the left hemisphere in local rhythmic functions such as grouping, while the right hemisphere mediates global features such as meter. We have recently reported the case of a musician (HJ) with the reverse pattern of rhythmic deficits following a right temporoparietal infarct (Wilson, Pressing, & Wales, 2002). Specifically, HJ showed impaired ability to maintain a steady beat despite accurate discrimination of nonmetrical rhythmic patterns.…”