Citation

Villing RC, Repp BH, Ward TE, Timoney JM. Atten. Percept. Psychophys. 2011; 73(5): 1614-1629.

Affiliation

National University of Ireland Maynooth, Maynooth, Ireland, rudi.villing@nuim.ie.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.3758/s13414-011-0110-1

PMID

21431995

Abstract

The perceptual center (P-center) is fundamental to the timing of heterogeneous event sequences, including music and speech. Unfortunately, there is currently no comprehensive and reliable model of P-centers in acoustic events, so P-centers must instead be measured empirically. This study reviews existing measurement methods and evaluates two methods in detail-the rhythm adjustment method and a new method based on the phase correction response (PCR) in a synchronous tapping task. The two methods yielded consistent P-center estimates and showed no evidence of P-center context dependence. The PCR method appears promising because it is accurate and efficient and does not require explicit perceptual judgments. As a secondary result, the magnitude of the PCR is shown to vary systematically with the onset complexity of speech sounds, which presumably reflects the perceived clarity of a sound's P-center.

Language: en