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Updated: May 22, 2026

Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks
Published on: March 16, 2015
How comparable are children and adults in perceiving an optimal tempo for music? (L)
Sandra Quinn1, Oona O'Hare, Deborah M Riby
1Department of Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom. sq4@st-andrews.ac.uk
Abstract:
This research compared the abilities of children and adults to perceive an optimal tempo for pieces of music. Participants heard eight melodies played at a range of tempi and made a 2AFC of "too fast" or "too slow" for each presentation. Children (aged between 5 to 11 years) and adults (aged between 17 to 54 years) showed the same variation in perceived optimal tempi across melodies. The same variation in optimal tempi was also observed when pitch variations were removed. This suggests that the rhythmical structure was responsible for the perceived optimal tempi for these pieces of music.
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