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Optimal Encoding of Interval Timing in Expert Percussionists

Cicchini, G. M. and Arrighi, R. and Cecchetti, Luca and Giusti, M. and Burr, D. C. Optimal Encoding of Interval Timing in Expert Percussionists. Journal of Neuroscience, 32 (3). pp. 1056-1060. ISSN 0270-6474 (2012)

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Abstract

We measured temporal reproduction in human subjects with various levels of musical expertise: expert drummers, string musicians, and non-musicians. While duration reproduction of the non-percussionists showed a characteristic central tendency or regression to the mean, drummers responded veridically. Furthermore, when the stimuli were auditory tones rather than flashes, all subjects responded veridically. The behavior of all three groups in both modalities is well explained by a Bayesian model that seeks to minimize reproduction errors by incorporating a central tendency prior, a probability density function centered at the mean duration of the sample. We measured separately temporal precision thresholds with a bisection task; thresholds were twice as low in drummers as in the other two groups. These estimates of temporal precision, together with an adaptable Bayesian prior, predict well the reproduction results and the central tendency strategy under all conditions and for all subject groups. These results highlight the efficiency and flexibility of sensorimotor mechanisms estimating temporal duration.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3411-11.2012
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Research Area: Computer Science and Applications
Depositing User: Caterina Tangheroni
Date Deposited: 04 Aug 2017 10:28
Last Modified: 04 Aug 2017 10:28
URI: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/3748

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