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Neurobiology of Interval Timing pp 325–338Cite as

Neural Mechanisms of Rhythm Perception: Present Findings and Future Directions

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 829))

Abstract

The capacity to synchronize movements to the beat in music is a complex, and apparently uniquely human characteristic. Synchronizing movements to the beat requires beat perception, which entails prediction of future beats in rhythmic sequences of temporal intervals. Absolute timing mechanisms, where patterns of temporal intervals are encoded as a series of absolute durations, cannot fully explain beat perception. Beat perception seems better accounted for by relative timing mechanisms, where temporal intervals of a pattern are coded relative to a periodic beat interval. Evidence from behavioral, neuroimaging, brain stimulation and neuronal cell recording studies suggests a functional dissociation between the neural substrates of absolute and relative timing. This chapter reviews current findings on relative timing in the context of rhythm and beat perception.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Li-Ann Leow & Jessica A. Grahn

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  1. Li-Ann Leow
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  2. Jessica A. Grahn
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Correspondence to Li-Ann Leow .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Campus Juriquilla, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Queretaro, Querétaro, Mexico

    Hugo Merchant

  2. Campus Juriquilla, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Queretaro, Querétaro, Mexico

    Victor de Lafuente

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Leow, LA., Grahn, J.A. (2014). Neural Mechanisms of Rhythm Perception: Present Findings and Future Directions. In: Merchant, H., de Lafuente, V. (eds) Neurobiology of Interval Timing. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 829. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1782-2_17

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