F.L. Bouwer, J.A. Burgoyne, D. Odijk, H. Honing, & J.A. Grahn (2018). 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 find. However, it is unclear whether 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 more or less strongly than temporal accents, nor how musical expertise affects sensitivity to each type of accent. In two experiments, we obtained ratings of difficulty in finding the beat in rhythms with either temporal or intensity accents, and which varied in the number of accents on the beat as well as the number of accents off the beat.

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I am very happy to report that I am one of 4 recipients of the Distinguished Women Scientists Fund, awarded by the Landelijk Netwerk Vrouwelijke Hoogleraren (Dutch network of women professors). The DWSF is a travel grant, and will allow me to examine rhythm perception in patients with Parkinson’s disease in collaboration with Dr. Jessica Grahn. I am very excited to start this new line of research!

I will be presenting at both the the SMART Cognitive Science Conference and the bi-annual conference of the NVP this month.

At SMART, I will present behavioural data from several tests that assess beat perception abilities during the Musicality Phenotype workshop.

At NVP, I will present EEG data looking at the difference between beat-based and memory-based expectations in musical rhythm.

On November 15, 2017, I gave a mini-lecture for the brightest primary school student in the country during the Mensa SlimmerIQuiz finals. You can watch the entire lecture below.

Two journalists from popular science magazine Quest came to visit me at UvA to find out whether they are any good at hearing the beat in rhythm. Find out about their results here!

This summer, I will be presenting the work of our group at several conferences. I will be giving a talk at RPPW 2017 in Birmingham, and I will present posters both at ICON 2017 in Amsterdam, and the first Timing Research Forum conference in Strasbourg. You can find my TRF poster below.

Why do people enjoy music? Can everyone dance? What are potential benefits of music for humans? I am a cognitive-neuroscientist-slash-used-to-be-performing-clarinettist, intrigued by the human mind and passionate about music. In my research, I hope to answer questions like these and many more! Currently, funded by an NWO Veni grant, I focus on how we perceive and produce rhythm. I work as an assistant professor at the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University, and am an affiliate of the Music Cognition Group and the Amsterdam Music Lab.

I am happy to announce that upon my return from maternity leave, starting January 1st, 2017, I will be working as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Cognition & Plasticity Lab, supervised by Dr. Heleen Slagter, at the Psychology Department of the University of Amsterdam. I am excited to start my new position!

I am the lucky recipient of one of two ABC Talent Grants, awarded in September 2016 by Amsterdam Brain and Cognition. The purpose of this grant (100.000 euros) is to spend one year as a postdoctoral researcher at UvA, continuing my research on rhythm and beat perception in the brain. I will be supervised by Dr. Heleen Slagter and Prof. Henkjan Honing. Dr. Slagter is an expert on predictive processing in the brain, and I am very much looking forward to working with her on connecting my research about rhythm and beat perception with general theories about predictive processing!