Category: Publications

F.L. Bouwer, J.A. Burgoyne, D. Odijk, H.Honing, & J.A. Grahn (under review). What makes a Rhythm Complex? The Influence of Musical Training and Accent Type on Beat Perception

Perception of a regular beat in music is inferred from different types of accents. For example, increases in loudness cause intensity accents, and the grouping of time intervals in a rhythm creates temporal accents. Accents are expected to occur on the beat: when accents are “missing” on the beat, the beat is more difficult to perceive. However, it is unclear whether the accents occurring off the beat alter beat perception similarly to missing accents on the beat. Moreover, no one has examined whether intensity accents influence beat perception in the same way as temporal accents, nor how musical expertise affects sensitivity to each type of accent. (more…)

F.L. Bouwer, C.M. Werner, M. Knetemann, & H. Honing (2016). Disentangling beat perception from sequential learning and examining the influence of attention and musical abilities on ERP responses to rhythm

Beat perception is the ability to perceive temporal regularity in musical rhythm. When a beat is perceived, predictions about upcoming events can be generated. These predictions can influence processing of subsequent rhythmic events. However, statistical learning of the order of sounds in a sequence can also affect processing of rhythmic events and must be differentiated from beat perception. In the current study, using EEG, we examined the effects of attention and musical abilities on beat perception. (more…)

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F.L. Bouwer & H. Honing (2015). Temporal attending and prediction influence the perception of metrical rhythm: evidence from reaction times and ERPs.

The processing of rhythmic events in music is influenced by the induced metrical structure. Two mechanisms underlying this may be temporal attending and temporal prediction. Temporal fluctuations in attentional resources may influence the processing of rhythmic events by heightening sensitivity at metrically strong positions. Temporal predictions may attenuate responses to events that are highly expected within a metrical structure. In the current study we aimed to disentangle these two mechanisms by examining responses to unexpected sounds, using intensity increments and decrements as deviants. (more…)

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Honing, H., Bouwer, F. L., & Háden, G. F. (2014). Perceiving temporal regularity in music: The role of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in probing beat perception.

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of how the perception of a regular beat in music can be studied in humans adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). (more…)

Bouwer F. L., Van Zuijen, T. L., Honing, H. (2014). Beat processing is pre-attentive for metrically simple rhythms with clear accents: An ERP study.

The perception of a regular beat is fundamental to music processing. Here we examine whether the detection of a regular beat is pre-attentive for metrically simple, acoustically varying stimuli using the mismatch negativity (MMN), an ERP response elicited by violations of acoustic regularity irrespective of whether subjects are attending to the stimuli. (more…)