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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Uncovering Beat Deafness: Detecting Rhythm Disorders with Synchronized Finger Tapping and Perceptual Timing Tasks
Published on: March 16, 2015
Steady-state evoked potentials distinguish brain mechanisms of self-paced versus synchronization finger tapping
Michael De Pretto1, Marie-Pierre Deiber2, Clara E James3
1Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 Boulevard du Pont-d'Arve, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland; Neurology Unit, Medicine Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
Abstract:
Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) requires aligning motor actions to external events and represents a core part of both musical and dance performances. In the current study, to isolate the brain mechanisms involved in synchronizing finger tapping with a musical beat, we compared SMS to pure self-paced finger tapping and listen-only conditions at different tempi. We analyzed EEG data using frequency domain steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs) to identify sustained electrophysiological brain activity during repetitive tasks. Behavioral results revealed different timing modes between SMS and self-paced finger tapping, associated with distinct scalp topographies, thus suggesting different underlying brain sources. After subtraction of the listen-only brain activity, SMS was compared to self-paced finger tapping. Resulting source estimations showed stronger activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus during SMS, and stronger activation of the bilateral inferior parietal lobule during self-paced finger tapping. These results point to the left inferior frontal gyrus as a pivot for perception-action coupling. We discuss our findings in the context of the ongoing debate about SSEPs interpretation given the variety of brain events contributing to SSEPs and similar EEG frequency responses.
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