Rhythmic sensorimotor coordination is resistant but not immune to auditory stream segregation

Abstract

In a recent study of musicians' sensorimotor synchronization with auditory sequences composed either of beat and subdivision tones differing in pitch or of beat tones only, Repp (2009) found that the phase correction response (PCR) to perturbed beats was inhibited by the presence of subdivisions regardless of whether beats and subdivisions formed integrated or segregated perceptual streams. The present study used a different paradigm in which perturbed subdivisions triggered the PCR. At the slower of two sequence tempi, the PCR was equally large in integrated and segregated conditions, but at the faster tempo stream segregation reduced the PCR substantially. This new finding indicates that although the PCR is strongly resistant to auditory stream segregation, it is not totally immune to it.

Keywords:

• Auditory scene analysis
• Stream segregation
• Synchronization
• Perception–action dissociation
• Phase correction

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant BCS-0642506.