Serial binary interval ratios improve rhythm reproduction

Abstract

Musical rhythm perception is a natural human ability that involves complex cognitive processes. Rhythm refers to the organization of events in time, and musical rhythms have an underlying hierarchical metrical structure. The metrical structure induces the feeling of a beat and the extent to which a rhythm induces the feeling of a beat is referred to as its metrical strength. Binary ratios are the most frequent interval ratio in musical rhythms. Rhythms with hierarchical binary ratios are better discriminated and reproduced than rhythms with hierarchical non-binary ratios. However, it remains unclear whether a superiority of serial binary over non-binary ratios in rhythm perception and reproduction exists. In addition, how different types of serial ratios influence the metrical strength of rhythms remains to be elucidated. The present study investigated serial binary vs. non-binary ratios in a reproduction task. Rhythms formed with exclusively binary (1:2:4:8), non-binary integer (1:3:5:6), and non-integer (1:2.3:5.3:6.4) ratios were examined within a constant meter. The results showed that the 1:2:4:8 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 and 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm types, and the 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 rhythm type. Further analyses showed that reproduction performance was better predicted by the distribution pattern of event occurrences within an inter-beat interval, than by the coincidence of events with beats, or the magnitude and complexity of interval ratios. Whereas rhythm theories and empirical data emphasize the role of the coincidence of events with beats in determining metrical strength and predicting rhythm performance, the present results suggest that rhythm processing may be better understood when the distribution pattern of event occurrences is taken into account. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlining musical rhythm perception.

Short-term memory for spatial, sequential and duration information

“…Perceiving rhythm also leads to phase-dependent facilitation for many aspects of auditory perception and cognition [ 49 ]. Rhythm-perceptual effects may lead to more economical storage of intervals at the expense of precision [ 50 ], similar to ‘lossy compression’, configural or familiarity effects observed in visual memory [ 51• , 52 ].…”

The Rhythm Span Task: Comparing Memory Capacity for Musical Rhythms in Musicians and Non-Musicians

“…E-mail: nora.schaal@uni-duesseldorf.de the internal clock by Povel and Essens (1985); in the Generative Theory of Tonal Music by Lerdahl and Jackendorff (1983)). Many studies have examined the hierarchical structures of rhythm sequences and found that several factors influence rhythm reproduction (Drake, 1993;Drake, Penel, & Bigand, 2000;Wu, Westanmo, Zhou, & Pan, 2013). For example, Drake (1993) showed that binary rhythms (compared to ternary subdivisions), having two different durations in one sequence (by contrast to three durations), accents on important beats and the possibility to segment into shorter sequences, lead to better performance for rhythm reproduction.…”

Regularity and dimensional salience in temporal grouping.

“…Third, perhaps the preponderance of duple meter in Western music means that the regularity manipulation was not as effective for triple groupings. Western listeners favor duple interpretations of rhythmic sequences (Bergeson & Trehub, 2006; Smith & Cuddy, 1989; Snyder, Hannon, Large, & Christiansen, 2006; Wu, Westanmo, Zhou, & Pan, 2013), so their relative lack of familiarity with triple metrical structures made them sound irregular, even when they were actually regular. This could explain why the regularity manipulation only worked for duple groupings.…”