Ritme and Rizumu: studies in music cognition

The words Ritme and Rizumu mean “rhythm” in Dutch and Japanese respectively. The words were chosen for the title of this thesis to allude to the distinct prosodic characteristics of different languages. In this thesis, we have investigated musical rhythm perception and production from various angles. One of the main aims was to examine the question of cross-domain influence, namely the effect of exposure to speech rhythm on music rhythm processing. We have found some cases where such an effect is apparent. Furthermore, the strength of the effect has been shown to interact with the complexity of the rhythmic structures. A more salient effect seems to emerge for rhythmic patterns that have a more complex structure and therefore require more complex mental coding. In addition to this cross-domain influence, an exposure to the rhythmic sequences measured as probability of occurrence or familiarity was examined and evaluated in a Bayesian framework. Using this framework, we have demonstrated the possibility of predicting rhythm perception from rhythm production data and priors. The method offers a new perspective on the relation between music rhythm perception and production; the rhythm perception process is adaptive to information in one’s environment. Finally, by looking at the degree of transfer of learning on rhythm production, we have shown that certain rhythmic patterns seem to be represented in a more similar way than others. Therefore we have indirectly shown that the categorical representation of rhythmic patterns is involved in the process of production;