Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rhythm Perception: Pulse and Meter

Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

  • 265 Accesses

Synonyms

Beat; Dynamic attending; Metrical accent; Metrical structure; Neural oscillator models of pulse and meter; Neural resonance; Rhythmic entrainment

Definition

Pulse and meter are perceptual/attentional responses to patterns of timing and stress in acoustic rhythms. Pulse corresponds to the perception of (pseudo) periodicity, while meter corresponds to the perception of alternating strong and weak beats. Pulse and meter are thought to arise as cortical rhythms entrain to acoustic rhythms, influencing temporal expectancy and attention. Computational models of pulse and meter as neural resonance to acoustic rhythms are based on theoretical models of neural oscillation.

Detailed Description

Musical rhythm is of considerable interest as a model system for the study of rhythmic communication. In music, rhythms are often perceived to have a pulse or basic beat in the approximate range of 0.5–4 Hz (London 2004). Meter corresponds to the percept of alternating strong and weak beats...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aronson DG, Ermentrout GB, Kopell N (1990) Amplitude response of coupled oscillators. Phys D: Nonlinear Phenom 41(3):403–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghitza O (2011) Linking speech perception and neurophysiology: speech decoding guided by cascaded oscillators locked to the input rhythm. Front Psychol 2:130. doi:papers2://publication/doi/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00130

    Google Scholar 

  • Giraud A-L, Poeppel D (2012) Cortical oscillations and speech processing: emerging computational principles and operations. Nat Neurosci 15(4):511–517. doi:papers2://publication/doi/10.1038/nn.3063

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glass L (2001) Synchronization and rhythmic processes in physiology. Nature 410(6825):277–284

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos P, Shah AS, Knuth KH, Ulbert I, Schroeder CE (2005) An oscillatory hierarchy controlling neuronal excitability and stimulus processing in the auditory cortex. J Neurophysiol 94(3):1904–1911

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Large EW (2008) Resonating to musical rhythm: theory and experiment. In: Grondin S (ed) The psychology of time. Emerald, Cambridge, pp 189–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Large EW, Jones MR (1999) The dynamics of attending: how people track time-varying events. Psychol Rev 106(1):119–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Large EW, Kolen JF (1994) Resonance and the perception of musical meter. Connect Sci 6:177–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Large EW, Almonte F, Velasco M (2010) A canonical model for gradient frequency neural networks. Phys D: Nonlinear Phenom 239(12):905–911. doi:10.1016/j.physd.2009.11.015

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lerdahl F, Jackendoff R (1983) A generative theory of tonal music. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • London J (2004) Hearing in time: psychological aspects of musical meter. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luo H, Poeppel D (2007) Phase patterns of neuronal responses reliably discriminate speech in human auditory cortex. Neuron 54(6):1001–1010. doi:papers2://publication/doi/10.1016/j. neuron.2007.06.004.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAuley JD (1995) Perception of time as phase: toward an adaptive-oscillator model of rhythmic pattern processing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozaradan S, Peretz I, Missal M, Mouraux A (2011) Tagging the neuronal entrainment to beat and meter. J Neurosci 31(28):10234–10240

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pikovsky A, Rosenblum M, Kurths J (2001) Synchronization: a universal concept in nonlinear sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Rd., 33431, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Dr. Edward Large

Authors
  1. Dr. Edward Large
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward Large .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Large, E. (2013). Rhythm Perception: Pulse and Meter. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_106-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_106-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Rhythm Perception: Pulse and Meter
    Published:
    19 May 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_106-2

  2. Original

    Rhythm Perception: Pulse and Meter
    Published:
    07 February 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_106-1

Search

Navigation