Scrutinizing subjective rhythmization: A combined ERP/oscillatory approach
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1
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Neuropsychology, Research Group "Subcortical contributions to comprehension", Germany
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2
University Of Manchester, School of Psychological Sciences, United Kingdom
When we listen to an isochronous sequence of identical tones (equitone sequence), we perceive some tones in as more salient than others. This phenomenon is termed subjective accentuating or rhythmization (e.g. Brochard et al., 2003, Schmidt-Kassow et al., 2011). It is assumed that listeners’ attention is enhanced for odd tones as compared to even tones in a sequence, reflecting dynamic attending to the tones (see Large & Jones, 1999). Here, we used a combined ERP/time-frequency approach to specify i) how listeners subjectively establish rhythmic regularities in equitone sequences, and ii) how they use this information to predict upcoming events. We presented participants with 192 equitone sequences (13-16 tones) that either contained one or two deviants of either higher or lower intensity at odd- or even-numbered positions. Standard tones had a frequency of 440 Hz, a duration of 50 ms, and an intensity level of 70 dB. Deviants tones differed by 4 dB. The ISI was 600 ms. Participants counted the number of deviants per sequence.
Preliminary ERP analyses revealed an increased P300 for attenuated deviant tones in odd positions in contrast to deviants in even positions. The TF analyses showed reduced alpha power for deviants in odd positions compared to deviants in even positions. In contrast, alpha power was enhanced for pre-deviant tones in odd positions compared to pre-deviant tones in even positions.
Taken together the present data suggest that alpha oscillations may play an important role in subjective temporal/rhythmic chunking and prediction of upcoming auditory information.
References
Brochard, R., Abecasis, D., Potter, D., Ragot, R., & Drake, C. (2003). The “ticktock” of our
internal clock: direct brain evidence of subjective accents in isochronous sequences. Psychological Science, 14(4), 362-366.
Large, E. W., & Jones, M. R. (1999). The dynamics of attending: How people track time-varying events. Psychological Review, 106(1), 119-159.
Schmidt-Kassow, M., Rothermich, K., Schwartze, M., & Kotz, S. A. (2011). Did you get the
beat? Late proficient French-German learners extract strong-weak patterns in tonal but not linguistic sequences. Neuroimage, 54, 568-576.
Keywords:
Rhythm,
EEG,
P300,
Alpha oscillations,
sequence processing
Conference:
14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop Birmingham 11th - 13th September 2013, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 11 Sep - 13 Sep, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Rhythm Production and Perception
Citation:
Obermeier
C and
Kotz
SA
(2013). Scrutinizing subjective rhythmization: A combined ERP/oscillatory approach.
Conference Abstract:
14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop Birmingham 11th - 13th September 2013.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.214.00022
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Received:
19 Jul 2013;
Published Online:
24 Sep 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Christian Obermeier, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Neuropsychology, Research Group "Subcortical contributions to comprehension", Leipzig, 04103, Germany, obermeier@cbs.mpg.de