Rhythm and Timing

Abstract

Auditory and visual rhythmic organization seems easy, but Handel argues that our ability to tap a song at different tempos and perceive a scene at different spatial resolutions suggests that rhythms are due to the hierarchic organization of levels that operate at different temporal and spatial scales. For example, the perception of the meter of auditory rhythms comes from the sum of beats at the different levels. Handel suggests that the ability to hear or see at the different levels allows us to hear the syncopation of polyrhythms, to detect if two rhythms played at different tempos are identical or to see if visual patterns repeat at different sizes. Overall, the timing between events controls our perception, as found for saltation, the Ternus illusion, and other multisensory presentations.