This research was supported by an International Reintegration Grant (n. 14847) from the European Commission to SDB, and by a grant from Polish Narodowe Centrum Nauki (decision No. Dec-2011/01/N/HS6/04092) to JS.

1. Synchronization Tasks
<ol>
	<li>Preparation of Instruments:
	<ol>
		<li>Connect a standard MIDI percussion instrument to the computer via a conventional MIDI interface. 
		NOTE: Data acquisition is realized via a MIDI electronic percussion instrument. The device captures the exact timing of the finger taps during the motor synchronization tasks.</li>
		<li>Open the dedicated software for stimulus presentation and response recording. 
		NOTE: The synchronization task is implemented using standard software f...

The goal of the described method is to provide a set of tasks and analysis strategies to characterize the timing abilities of the majority of individuals and detect cases of beat deafness or poor synchronization. The critical steps of the protocol involve 1) the setup of the instruments used for stimulus presentation and collection of finger tapping data and subjects&#8217; responses, 2) data collection using two sets of tasks (synchronization and rhythm perception), 3) analysis of synchronization data with circular stat...

A correction to the Acknowledgements section was made in: Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks.
The Acknowledgements section has been updated from:
This research was supported by an International Reintegration Grant (n. 14847) from the European Commission to SDB and a grant from Polish Ministry for Science and Education to JS.
to:
This research was supported by an International Reintegration Grant (n. 14847) from the European Commission to SDB, and by a grant from Polish Narodowe Centrum Nauki (decision No. Dec-2011/01/N/HS6/04092) to JS.

A correction to the Acknowledgements section was made in: Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks.

Erratum: Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks

Humans are particularly efficient at processing the duration of events occurring in their environment1. In particular, the ability to perceive the beat of music or the regular ticking of a clock and the ability to move along with it (e.g., in dance or synchronized sports) is widespread in the general population (i.e., in individuals who have not received musical training)2,3. These abilities are underpinned by a complex neuronal network involving cortical brain regions (e.g., the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area) and subcortical structures, such as the basal ganglia and the cerebellum4-7.
Disruption of this network and consequent poor temporal processing can result from brain damage8-10 or neuronal degeneration, as observed in patients with Parkinson&#8217;s disease11. However, poor perception of duration and poor synchronization to the beat of music can also manifest in healthy individuals in the absence of brain damage. In spite of the fact that the majority can perceive auditory rhythms and synchronize the movement to the beat (e.g., in music), there are notable exceptions. Some individuals have major difficulties in synchronizing their body movements or finger tapping to the beat of music and can exhibit poor beat perception, showing difficulties in discriminating melodies with notes of different duration. This condition has been referred to as &#8220;beat deafness&#8221; or &#8220;dysrhythmia&#8221; 2,12-14. For example, beat deafness was described in a recent study13, in which the case of a patient named Mathieu was reported. Mathieu was particularly inaccurate at bouncing to the beat of rhythmical songs (e.g., a Merengue song). Synchronization was still possible, but only to the sounds of a simple isochronous sequence (e.g., a metronome). Poor synchronization was associated with poor beat perception, as revealed by the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA)15. In an additional task, Mathieu was asked to match the movements of a dancer to the music; interestingly, Mathieu exhibited unimpaired pitch perception.
Poor rhythm perception and poor synchronization, in beat-deaf individuals with spared pitch perception, were observed in further studies2,12,14, thus providing compelling evidence that rhythm disorders can occur in isolation. Beat deafness is therefore distinct from the typical description of congenital amusia (i.e., tone deafness), a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting pitch perception and production16-19. Interestingly, poor rhythm perception and production can co-occur with poor pitch processing in congenital amusia12,16,20. Nevertheless, poor rhythm perception in this case depends on the ability of an individual to perceive pitch variation. When pitch variations in melodies are removed, congenital amusics can successfully discriminate rhythm differences21.
Important individual differences have been observed in beat deafness; this fact deserves particular attention. In most cases, both rhythm perception and synchronization to the beat of music are deficient2,12-14; however, poor synchronization can also occur when rhythm perception is spared2. This dissociation between perception and action in the timing domain has been shown using synchronized tapping tasks with a variety of rhythmic auditory stimuli (e.g., a metronome and music) and using different rhythm perception tasks (e.g., the discrimination of melodies based on different note durations and the detection of deviations from isochrony in rhythmic sequences). This finding is particular relevant because it points to the possible separation of perception and action with regard to timing mechanisms, as previously observed in pitch processing17,22-25. Further dissociations were highlighted depending on the stimulus complexity2. Most poor synchronizers exhibited selective difficulties with complex stimuli (e.g., music or amplitude-modulated noise derived from music), while they still showed accurate and consistent synchronization with simple isochronous sequences; other poor synchronizers showed the opposite pattern. In summary, these results converge in indicating that there are a variety of phenotypes of timing disorders in the general population (as observed in other domains of musical processing such as pitch25,26), which require a sensitive set of tasks to be detected. Characterizing the patterns of rhythm disorders is particularly relevant to shed light on the specific mechanisms that are malfunctioning in the timing system.
The goal of the method illustrated here is to provide a set of tasks that can be used to uncover cases of beat deafness in the general population and detect different subtypes of timing disorders (e.g., affecting perceptual vs. sensorimotor timing or a particular class of rhythmic stimuli). Sensorimotor timing abilities have mostly been examined using finger tapping tasks with auditory material. Participants are asked to tap their index finger in synchrony with auditory stimuli, such as to a sequence of tones equally spaced in time or to music (i.e., in a synchronized or paced tapping task27-29). Another popular paradigm, which has been the source of considerable modeling efforts29-32, is the synchronization-continuation paradigm, in which the participant continues tapping at the rate provided by a metronome after the sound has stopped. Rhythm perception is studied with a variety of tasks ranging from duration discrimination, estimation, bisection (i.e., comparing durations to &#39;short&#39; and &#39;long&#39; standards), and detection of anisochrony (i.e., determining whether there is a deviant interval within an isochronous sequence) to the beat alignment task (i.e., detecting whether a metronome superimposed onto music is aligned with the beat)1,2,20,33,34. Most studies have focused on time perception, beat production or sensorimotor timing, which were tested in isolation. However, it is likely that such different tasks refer to somewhat different abilities (e.g., interval timing vs. beat-based timing, perceptual vs. sensorimotor timing) and do not reflect the functioning of the same timing mechanisms and the associated neuronal circuitry. This issue can be circumvented by using recently proposed batteries of tasks that assess both perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities. These batteries allow researchers to obtain an exhaustive profile of an individual&#8217;s timing abilities. Examples of such batteries are the beat alignment test (BAT)34, the Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor Timing Abilities (BAASTA)35, and the Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT)36. These batteries consist of tapping tasks with a variety of rhythmic auditory stimuli ranging from music to isochronous sequences as well as perceptual tasks (e.g., duration discrimination, detection of the alignment of a metronome to the beat of music, and anisochrony detection). In all cases, the same set of musical excerpts was used in perceptual and sensorimotor tasks.
In this paper, we illustrate a set of tasks that are particularly efficient at revealing patterns of rhythm disorders in beat-deaf individuals and poor synchronizers, as shown in previous studies2. These tasks are part of a larger battery of tests, the BAASTA35. Sensorimotor timing abilities are tested by asking participants to tap their finger to the beat of simple and complex auditory stimuli (e.g., isochronous sequences, music, and rhythmic noise derived from musical stimuli)27,28. Perceptual timing is tested with an anisochrony detection task2,20,33,37. A set of isochronous tones is presented. In some cases, one of the tones (e.g., the penultimate) is presented sooner or later than expected based on the isochronous structure of the auditory sequence. Participants are asked to detect deviations from isochrony. The advantage of these sensorimotor and rhythm perception tasks is that they both involve sequences of stimuli (instead of single durations) and stimuli of different complexity. Thus, based on previous evidence, these tasks provide the optimal conditions to uncover different phenotypes of beat deafness and poor synchronization. Particular attention is paid to the technique adopted in the analysis of synchronization data. This technique is based on circular statistics, an approach that is particularly well-suited for examining inaccurate and inconsistent synchronization to the beat.

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uncovering beat deafness: detecting rhythm disorders with synchronized finger tapping and perceptual timing tasks

A set of behavioral tasks for assessing perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities in the general population (i.e., non-musicians) is presented here with the goal of uncovering rhythm disorders, such as beat deafness. Beat deafness is characterized by poor performance in perceiving durations in auditory rhythmic patterns or poor synchronization of movement with auditory rhythms (e.g., with musical beats). These tasks include the synchronization of finger tapping to the beat of simple and complex auditory stimuli and the detection of rhythmic irregularities (anisochrony detection task) embedded in the same stimuli. These tests, which are easy to administer, include an assessment of both perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities under different conditions (e.g., beat rates and types of auditory material) and are based on the same auditory stimuli, ranging from a simple metronome to a complex musical excerpt. The analysis of synchronized tapping data is performed with circular statistics, which provide reliable measures of synchronization accuracy (e.g., the difference between the timing of the taps and the timing of the pacing stimuli) and consistency. Circular statistics on tapping data are particularly well-suited for detecting individual differences in the general population. Synchronized tapping and anisochrony detection are sensitive measures for identifying profiles of rhythm disorders and have been used with success to uncover cases of poor synchronization with spared perceptual timing. This systematic assessment of perceptual and sensorimotor timing can be extended to populations of patients with brain damage, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson&#8217;s disease), and developmental disorders (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

The tasks described above have been used with success to characterize the timing abilities of individuals without musical training2,34-36. In a recent representative study on beat-deafness2, a group of 99 non-musicians (university students) were screened using two simple synchronization tasks. Participants synchronized their finger tapping with an isochronous sequence and a musical excerpt at a comfortable tempo (with an IOI/IBI of 600 msec). Ten of the participants showed particularly poor synchron...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks at JoVE.com

Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks

Behavioral tasks that allow for the assessment of perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities in the general population (i.e., non-musicians) are presented. Synchronization of finger tapping to the beat of an auditory stimuli and detecting rhythmic irregularities provides a means of uncovering rhythm disorders.

A set of behavioral tasks for assessing perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities in the general population (i.e., non-musicians) is presented here ...

uncovering-beat-deafness-detecting-rhythm-disorders-with-synchronized

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