Performance of Perceived Beat in Relation to Age and Music Training

Abstract

The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic I stimuli. Two hundred forty subjects representing four age-groups (graduate, undergraduate, high school, junior high school) and two levels of music participation (music major/enrollment in band versus no participation in organized music activities) served as subjects. Thirteen sets of consecutive periodic 349.23 Hz (F₄) tones were presented at various speeds in randomized orders. The rates of the 15-second examples were 40, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 100, 120, 140, 160, 200, and 240 tones per minute. Subjects' tasks were to listen to each example and to tap the perceived beat or pulse.

Results indicate that college music majors and other listeners responded differentially. Music majors tended to identify beat tempi between 70 and 120 beats per minute (bpm) regardless of the speed of stimulus tones presented, suggesting that faster rates of presentation (≥ 140 bpm) were perceived as subdivisions of slower beat tempi, and that slower rates of presentation (≤ 60 bpm) were perceived as pulses spanning two or more faster beats. Although a similar tendency was apparent in the responses of the remaining subjects, a majority tapped beats identical to the stimulus tones across all rates of presentation. That is, nonmusic subjects seemed to perceive the stimulus tones as beats, regardless of the rate of presentation, whereas the trained musicians tended to perceive beat tempi within a defined range across all stimulus speeds.

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