Reaction to rhythmic stimuli with attempt to synchronize.

Abstract

In my paper on • The Complication Experiment and Related Phenomena' 2 I stated my conclusion that the typical illusion of the so-called ' complication experiment' depends on a rhythmic reaction which the subject makes mechanically : that the result of this reaction (the tolerably clear vision of the pointer) seems to the subject to be synchronous with the sound or whatever discrete stimulus is used, but is really achieved previous to the said stimulus (giving negative error), or subsequent thereto (giving positive error), in all cases in which the typical error is found.Further work, with definite sorts of rhythmic reactions seems desirable, as I have already stated, 3 and the present paper is a report of a beginning in this work.The phenomena of the ' complication experiment' depend on an indirect attempt to synchronize reaction with stimulus. Indirect, because the subject is little, if at all, conscious through muscular or tactual sense of the reaction, but apprehends the result, i. e., the visual ' picking out' of the moving pointer and attempts to make this result synchronize with the rhythmically repeated stimulus. It would be possible to arrange an experiment with a definite rhythmic reaction (e. g., a finger movement) which should be controlled by the consciousness of its visual or auditory results; but it has seemed advisable to work first with attempts at direct synchronization (that is, of the stimulus with the tactual and muscular content of the reaction consciousness). So far as I can see now, either method is equally good; for the difference between what I here designate as ' direct' and ' indirect' is after all a matter of degree. Actual comparison of the two methods will however be made later.

Synchronizing to auditory and tactile metronomes: a test of the auditory-motor enhancement hypothesis

“…Correlational coefficients for best fits of the latter model are indicated above the bars 1 autocorrelation). Second, consistent with previous findings , we found evidence of higher order error correction (negative Lag 3 autocorrelation) only when auditory information was present, and in a new finding, particularly when it was less salient (complex rhythm, small magnitude condition).The current study contributes to a growing literature demonstrating that the auditory advantage in sensorimotor synchronization, first observed in comparisons between (auditory) metronome ticks and (visual) flashing lights (e.g., Bartlett & Bartlett, 1959;Chen et al, 2002;Dunlap, 1910;Jäncke et al, 2000;Patel et al, 2005;Repp & Penel, 2002, 2004, may be more nuanced than previously thought. For example, recent studies have shown that visual performance for simple rhythms improves to auditory levels when visual information is continuous rather than discrete (Gan et al, 2015;Iversen et al, 2015).…”

Temporal Control of Movements in Sensorimotor Synchronization

“…The few studies that have examined visual or tactile pacing signals reveal contradictory results. Kolers and Brewster (1985) report a reduction in asynchrony under conditions applying visual signals rather than clicks (and even positive asynchronies under conditions with very short intertap intervals), thus replicating earlier studies (Dunlap, 1910;Fraisse, 1948;Miyake, 1902).…”

“…This means that the tap precedes the click by about 20 to 80 ms. This effect was described already more than 100 years ago (e.g., Dunlap, 1910;Johnson, 1898;Miyake, 1902) and has been replicated in a number of studies (e.g., Aschersleben & Prinz, 1995, 1997Fraisse, 1980;Kolers & Brewster, 1985;Mates, Müller, Radil, & Pöppel, 1994;Repp, 2000;Thaut, Tian, Azimi-Sadjadi, 1998;Vos, Mates, & van Kruysbergen, 1995, Wohlschläger & Koch, 2000.…”

Synchronous Rhythmic Flashing of Fireflies. II.

“…It has long been known that human beings have a "sense of rhythm" and orchestrate by reference to cues in the preceding, rather than contemporaneous cycle (Dunlap, 1910), but it has not been recognized generally that both the maintenance of a natural spontaneous rhythm and entrainment to foreign rhythms might be referable to very simple oscillatory cells or networks. On the other hand, in spite of the existence of resettable neurons in many molluscs and crustacea (and presumably in all higher animals), and their known ability to interact by means of both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections in coordinating a wide variety of rhythmic activities, it remains a mystery that no mammal besides man can perform any sort of whole-body group rhythmic activity that is truly synchronized.…”