Unraveling the finding of 1/f beta noise in self-paced and synchronized tapping: a unifying mechanistic model

1/f (beta) noise has been revealed in both self-paced and synchronized tapping sequences, without being consistently taken into consideration for the modeling of underlying timing mechanisms. In this study we characterize variability, short-range, and long-range correlation properties of asynchronies and inter-tap intervals collected in a synchronization tapping experiment, attesting statistically the presence of 1/f (beta) noise in asynchronies. We verify that the linear phase correction model of synchronization tapping in its original formulation cannot account for the empirical long-range correlation properties. On the basis of previous accounts of 1/f (beta) noise in the literature on self-paced tapping, we propose an extension of the original synchronization model by modeling the timekeeping process as a source of 1/f (beta) fluctuations. Simulations show that this '1/f-AR synchronization model' accounts for the statistical properties of empirical series, including long-range correlations, and provides an unifying mechanistic account of 1/f (beta) noise in self-paced and synchronization tapping. This account opens the original synchronization framework to further investigations of timing mechanisms with regard to the serial correlation properties in performed time intervals.