Evoked and entrained pupillary activity while moving to preferred tempo and beyond.

People synchronize their movements more easily to rhythms with tempi closer to their preferred motor rates than with faster or slower ones. More efficient coupling at one's preferred rate, compared to faster or slower rates, should be associated with lower cognitive demands and better attentional entrainment, as predicted by dynamical system theories of perception and action. We show that synchronizing one's finger taps to metronomes at tempi outside of their preferred rate evokes larger pupil sizes, a proxy for noradrenergic attention, relative to passively listening.

Effects of individual practice on joint musical synchronization.

Successful music-making requires precise sensorimotor synchronization, both in individual (solo) and joint (ensemble) social settings. We investigated how individual practice synchronizing with a temporally regular melody (Solo conditions) influences subsequent synchronization between two partners (Joint conditions). Musically trained adults practiced producing a melody by tapping on a keypad; each tap generated the next tone in the melody.

Duet synchronization interventions affect social interactions.

Humans' complex behavior, such as speech, music, or dance, requires us to coordinate our actions with external sounds as well as with social partners. The presence of a partner can influence individuals' synchronization, and, in turn, social connection with the partner may depend on the degree of synchronization. We manipulated the synchronization quality in intervention conditions to address the causal relationship between observed temporal synchrony and perceived social interaction.

Unravelling individual rhythmic abilities using machine learning.

Humans can easily extract the rhythm of a complex sound, like music, and move to its regular beat, like in dance. These abilities are modulated by musical training and vary significantly in untrained individuals. The causes of this variability are multidimensional and typically hard to grasp in single tasks.

Social Interaction and Rate Effects in Models of Musical Synchronization.

Important individual differences are observed in people's abilities to synchronize their body movements with regular auditory rhythms. We investigate whether synchronizing with a regular auditory cue is affected by each person's spontaneous production rate (SPR) and by hearing a partner's synchronization in a social context. Musically trained and untrained participants synchronized their tapping with an auditory cue presented at different rates (their own SPR or their partner's SPR) and in a Solo or Joint (turn-taking) condition.

At-Home Training With a Rhythmic Video Game for Improving Orofacial, Manual, and Gait Abilities in Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Rhythm disorders are consistently reported in Parkinson's disease (PD). They manifest across motor domains, such as in orofacial (oral diadochokinesis), manual (finger tapping), and gait tasks. It is still unclear, however, whether these disorders are domain- and task-specific, or result from impaired common mechanisms supporting rhythm processing (general dysrhythmia).

Rhythm as an independent determinant of developmental dyslexia.

Temporal accounts of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) postulate that a timing impairment plays an important role in this learning disorder. However, DD has been associated with timing disorders as well as other motor and cognitive dysfunctions. It is still unclear whether nonverbal timing skills per se may be considered as independent determinants of DD.

Dance Improves Motor, Cognitive, and Social Skills in Children With Developmental Cerebellar Anomalies.

In this multiple single-cases study, we used dance to train sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), motor, and cognitive functions in children with developmental cerebellar anomalies (DCA). DCA are rare dysfunctions of the cerebellum that affect motor and cognitive skills. The cerebellum plays an important role in temporal cognition, including SMS, which is critical for motor and cognitive development.

Heightened orofacial, manual, and gait variability in Parkinson's disease results from a general rhythmic impairment.

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience rhythm disorders in a number of motor tasks, such as (i) oral diadochokinesis, (ii) finger tapping, and (iii) gait. These common motor deficits may be signs of "general dysrhythmia", a central disorder spanning across effectors and tasks, and potentially sharing the same neural substrate. However, to date, little is known about the relationship between rhythm impairments across domains and effectors.

Home-based training of rhythmic skills with a serious game in Parkinson's disease: Usability and acceptability.

Objectives: To evaluate the adherence, usability and acceptance of a rehabilitation protocol with a music-based serious game (SG) and its effect on rhythmic skills in Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: Sixteen PD patients with mild cognitive and motor impairments were included (mean [SD] age 65 [7.28] years and Hoehn & Yahr score 2-3).

Test-retest reliability of the Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities (BAASTA).

Perceptual and sensorimotor timing skills can be thoroughly assessed with the Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities (BAASTA). The battery has been used for testing rhythmic skills in healthy adults and patient populations (e.g.

Rhythmic abilities and musical training in Parkinson's disease: do they help?

Rhythmic auditory cues can immediately improve gait in Parkinson's disease. However, this effect varies considerably across patients. The factors associated with this individual variability are not known to date.

Children and adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder cannot move to the beat.

Children and adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) fail in simple tasks like telling whether two sounds have different durations, or in reproducing single durations. The deficit is linked to poor reading, attention, and language skills. Here we demonstrate that these timing distortions emerge also when tracking the beat of rhythmic sounds in perceptual and sensorimotor tasks.

Music Games: Potential Application and Considerations for Rhythmic Training.

Rhythmic skills are natural and widespread in the general population. The majority can track the beat of music and move along with it. These abilities are meaningful from a cognitive standpoint given their tight links with prominent motor and cognitive functions such as language and memory.

"Lost in time" but still moving to the beat.

Motor synchronization to the beat of an auditory sequence (e.g., a metronome or music) is widespread in humans.

BAASTA: Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities.

The Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities (BAASTA) is a new tool for the systematic assessment of perceptual and sensorimotor timing skills. It spans a broad range of timing skills aimed at differentiating individual timing profiles. BAASTA consists of sensitive time perception and production tasks.