Alexandre Celma-Miralles, Robert F. de Menezes, Juan M. Toro
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated top-down effects on meter induction in the auditory modality. However, little is known about these effects in the visual domain, especially without the involvement of motor acts such as tapping. In the present study, we aim to assess whether the projection of meter on auditory beats is also present in the visual domain. We asked 16 musicians to internally project binary (i.e., a strong-weak pattern) and ternary (i.e., a strong-weak-weak pattern) meter onto separate, but analog, visual and auditory isochronous stimuli. Participants were presented with sequences of tones or blinking circular shapes (i.e., flashes) at 2.4 Hz while their electrophysiological responses were recorded. A frequency analysis of the elicited steady-state evoked potentials allowed us to compare the frequencies of the beat (2.4 Hz), its first harmonic (4.8 Hz), the binary subharmonic (1.2 Hz), and the ternary subharmonic (0.8 Hz) within and across modalities. Taking the amplitude spectra into account, we observed an enhancement of the amplitude at 0.8 Hz in the ternary condition for both modalities, suggesting meter induction across modalities. There was an interaction between modality and voltage at 2.4 and 4.8 Hz. Looking at the power spectra, we also observed significant differences from zero in the auditory, but not in the visual, binary condition at 1.2 Hz. These findings suggest that meter processing is modulated by top-down mechanisms that interact with our perception of rhythmic events and that such modulation can also be found in the visual domain. The reported cross-modal effects of meter may shed light on the origins of our timing mechanisms, partially developed in primates and allowing humans to synchronize across modalities accurately.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 March 2016.
All research outputs
#13,767,344
of 22,852,911 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
#4,227
of 7,163 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#151,547
of 300,565 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
#99
of 161 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,852,911 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 38th percentile – i.e., 38% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,163 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.6. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 300,565 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 48th percentile – i.e., 48% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 161 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
