Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks
Published on: March 16, 2015
Delayed auditory feedback in synchronization
1Max-Planck-Institut für psychologische Forschung München, Germany.
Abstract:
In two experiments, the effect of feedback delay on synchronization performance was examined. In Experiment 1, whether feedback delay has an effect on the asynchrony between tap and click was investigated, and a transfer effect between conditions, observed in a preliminary experiment, was studied. Experiment 2 served as a control experiment that assured that the effects were not caused by order effects. A linear relationship between the size of the delay and the asynchrony between tap and click was observed; that is, with increasing delay, the size of the asynchrony increased as well. The results support an extended version of the Paillard-Fraisse hypothesis that accounts for the results observed in synchronization tasks in which more than a single source of feedback from the tap is available. The results indicate that all tap-related information is integrated into a joint event code representing that tap at a central level. These codes are superimposed on click-related codes and are therefore responsible for the observed asynchronies. Moreover, the results suggest that tap-related codes arise from a linear combination of their tactile-kinesthetic and auditory components.
Related Concept Videos
Effects of feedback
Feedback significantly modifies the gain of a control system. The gain of a system without feedback is altered by a factor of one plus GH, where G represents...
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Hearing
Auditory Perception
Feedback Inhibition

