THE COGNITIVE ORGANIZATION OF SIMPLE RHYTHMIC PATTERNS

Povel (1981) tested a "beat-based" model for temporal pattern organization. The model suggests that shorter temporal intervals within a pattern of temporal events are represented as sub-divisions of a longer, recurring, accented temporal interval or "beat-interval". Povel's research showed that temporal patterns that conform to a beat-based model are reproduced more accurately and consistently than patterns that do not. These results, however, do not preclude the possibility of organization by means of a "bottom-up" process, that is, representation of a longer temporal interval as a multiple of a well-defined shorter temporal interval. The purpose of the present study was to determine if the organization of temporal patterns is necessarily governed by beat-based processing, and to determine if there are differences in the organizational and imitative skills of rhythmically trained and rhythmically untrained subjects. Results showed that non-beat-based processing of multi-event temporal patterns can be rejected. A revision of the beat-based model was proposed, however, which extends the explanatory powers of that model. It was also suggested that no single type of processing governs the organization of all temporal patterns. Rather, it may be that the organizational process is pattern-dependent. No differences between rhythmically trained and rhythmically untrained subjects were uncovered.