The implicit learning of metrical and non-metrical rhythms in blind and sighted adults

Abstract

Forming temporal expectancies plays a crucial role in our survival as it allows us to identify the occurrence of temporal deviants that might signal potential dangers. The dynamic attending theory suggests that temporal expectancies are formed more readily for rhythms that imply a beat (i.e., metrical rhythms) compared to those that do not (i.e., nonmetrical rhythms). Moreover, metrical frameworks can be used to detect temporal deviants. Although several studies have demonstrated that congenital or early blindness correlates with modality-specific neural changes that reflect compensatory mechanisms, few have examined whether blind individuals show a learning advantage for auditory rhythms and whether learning can occur unintentionally and without awareness, that is, implicitly. We compared blind to sighted controls in their ability to implicitly learn metrical and nonmetrical auditory rhythms. We reasoned that the loss of sight in blindness might lead to improved sensitivity to rhythms and predicted that the blind learn rhythms more readily than the sighted. We further hypothesized that metrical rhythms are learned more readily than nonmetrical rhythms. Results partially confirmed our predictions; the blind group learned nonmetrical rhythms more readily than the sighted group but the blind group learned metrical rhythms less readily than the sighted group. Only the sighted group learned metrical rhythms more readily than nonmetrical rhythms. The blind group demonstrated awareness of the nonmetrical rhythms while learning was implicit for all other conditions. Findings suggest that improved deviant-sensitivity might have provided the blind group a learning advantage for nonmetrical rhythms. Future research could explore the plastic changes that affect deviance-detection and stimulus-specific adaptation in blindness.

A framework to account for the effects of visual loss on human auditory abilities.

“…Carrara-Augustenborg and Schultz (2019) assessed the ability of early-blind and sighted participants to learn rhythms that were metrical (rhythms that imply a beat) or non-metrical (rhythms that do not imply a beat). The blind group was better than the sighted group at learning non-metrical auditory rhythms, but was worse when learning metrical rhythms, providing evidence for more accurate formation of temporal expectancies in the blind group but only for the learning of non-metrical auditory rhythms.…”

The power of the cognitive unconscious: The case of implicit learning

“…The application of implicit learning in a wide range of human life aspects has been corroborated by numerous research findings in different domains, such as social cognition (e.g., Frith & Frith, 2012;Greenwald & Banaji, 1995;Guivarch et al, 2017;Heerey & Velani, 2010;Lieberman, 2000), first and second language acquisition (e.g., Ellis, 1994;Robinson, 1996Robinson, , 1997Kerz et al, 2017;Li et al, 2013;Rebuschat & Williams, 2012), decision making, (Cohn et al, 2013;Raab & Johnson, 2008;Thakur et al, 2021), motor skills (e.g., Kal et al, 2018;Korman et al, 2018;Opitz et al, 2020;Stark-Inbar et al, 2016;Verburgh et al, 2016), music perception (e.g., Carrara -Augustenborg & Schultz, 2019;Daikoku, 2018;Daikoku et al, 2014;Rohrmeier & Rebuschat , 2012;Romano Bergstrom et al, 2012), categorization (e.g., Waldron & Ashby, 2001;Ziori & Dienes, 2008, and judgements on people's age or personality (e.g., Lewicki et al, 1997;Lewicki et al, 1992).…”

Data-Driven Classification of Spectral Profiles Reveals Brain Region-Specific Plasticity in Blindness

“…Investigating changes in brain rhythms in congenital blindness can provide crucial insights into the neuronal mechanisms of behavioral changes as found in this population. Congenitally blind individuals perform better on various auditory, tactile, and higher-cognitive tasks compared to sighted controls (Bull et al 1983;Lessard et al 1998;Roeder et al 2001;Amedi et al 2003;Gougoux et al 2005;Foecker et al 2012), including tasks where certain aspects of temporal processing are essential, such as in temporal order processing tasks, task involving musical meter or ultra-fast speech processing (Hoetting et al 2004;Roeder et al 2004;Stevens and Weaver 2005;Moos and Trouvain 2007;Roeder et al 2007;Trouvain 2007;Hertrich et al 2009;Dietrich et al 2013;Lerens et al 2014;Carrara-Augustenborg and Schultz 2019;Zhang et al 2019). Improved behavioral performance in auditory or tactile tasks in congenitally blind individuals is accompanied by cross-modal plasticity.…”