Categorical perception of rhythmic patterns

SummaryIn this study the task of the subject is to identify a rhythm which is a member of a set of patterns interpolated between two rhythms: One rhythm in a 6/8 and the other in a 4/4 metrum. The subjects first learn the one-to-one association of the different patterns with a numerical label. They then perform a complete identification experiment. One complication of the task is that the tempo varies randomly from trial to trial. The identification matrix is analyzed in terms of discriminability of neighboring rhythmic patterns. Two questions are of interest. First, whether variations within a rhythmic category can be discriminated better than chance and second, whether the discrimination function is nonmonotonic, with a peak at the boundary between the rhythms. The results indicate that the answer to both questions is positive.