The effects of visual and auditory models on the learning of a rhythmical synchronization dance skill

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of visual and auditory concurrent models on the acquisition of a rhythmical synchronization task. Subjects attempted to synchronize a series of dance steps to the beat of two auditory rhythms. Subjects performed five trial blocks in one of four practice conditions: (a) audio-visual (auditory rhythms combined with a visual model), (b) audio-auditory (auditory rhythms combined with an auditory model), (c) auditory only (auditory rhythms with no model), and (d) visual only (no auditory rhythms but exposure to a visual model). Rhythmical timing and synchronization accuracy served as the dependent variables. Results revealed no practice condition learning differences for rhythmical timing. For synchronization accuracy, the audio-auditory group produced significantly lower error scores at acquisition, but no differences were found at retention. Apparently, the availability of models created an information dependency that resulted in a decrease of performance and, consequently, no group differences in retention.