Modulation of ellipses drawing by sonification

Abstract

Most studies on the regulation of speed and trajectory during ellipse drawing have used visual feedback. We used on-line auditory feedback (sonification) to induce implicit movement changes independently from vision. The sound was produced by filtering a pink noise with a bandpass filter proportional to movement speed. The first experiment was performed in 2D. Healthy participants were asked to repetitively draw ellipses during 45 second-trials whilst maintaining a constant sonification pattern (involving pitch variations during the cycle). Perturbations were produced by modifying the slope of the mapping without informing the participants. All participants adapted spontaneously their speed: they went faster if the slope decreased and slower if it increased. Higher velocities were achieved by increasing both the frequency of the movements and the perimeter of the ellipses, but slower velocities were achieved only by decreasing the perimeter of the ellipses. The shape and the orientation of the ellipses were not significantly altered. The analysis of the speed-curvature power-law parameters showed consistent modulations of the speed gain factor, while the exponent remained stable. The second experiment was performed in 3D and showed similar results, except that the main orientation of the ellipse also varied with the changes in speed. In conclusion this study demonstrated implicit modulation of movement speed by sonification and robust stability of the ellipse geometry. Participants appeared to limit the decrease in movement frequency during slowing down in order to maintain a rhythmic and not discrete motor regimen.

Effects of pitch and musical sounds on body-representations when moving with sound

“…We hypothesize that this increase in acceleration probably reflects a compensatory response mediated by auditory feedback signaling a discrepancy between the predicted position and the received sensory feedback. Such corrections in velocity/acceleration have been observed in other studies providing altered sound feedback, for instance, on the trajectory of a movement 74 or on the applied weight on the floor when walking 75 . They may relate to the forward model theories for motor control 76 , in which large discrepancies between the predicted and actual sensory inputs generate such compensatory patterns.…”

Bodies moving with sound: Effects of pitch and musical sounds on body-representations

“…We hypothesize that this increase in acceleration probably reflects a compensatory response mediated by auditory feedback signaling a direction opposed to the upwards movement direction, leading to the creation of a corrective pattern. Such overcorrections in velocity/acceleration have been observed in other studies providing altered sound feedback, for instance, on the trajectory of a movement [70] or on the applied weight on the floor when walking [71]. They may relate to the forward model theories for motor control [72], in which large discrepancies between the predicted and actual sensory inputs generate such compensatory patterns.…”

Online reach adjustments induced by real-time movement sonification

“…For example, Danna et al (2015) studied the effects of sonifying velocity magnitude on handwriting fluency, while Boyer et al (2020) show that sonification of velocity magnitude affects movement velocity in ellipse drawing. This focus on timing is understandable, as successful motor control obviously depends on precise timing and audition is the sense with the best temporal resolution and lowest response latency (Freides 1974;Grahn 2012;Stauffer et al 2012).…”