Tracking the beat of music: Mechanisms underpinning inter-individual differences and effects on rhythm learning

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Humans, musicians and non-musicians alike, are generally highly skilled at perceiving the regular pulse of music (i.e., its beat) and at moving to it. However, even though the majority can track the beat there is considerable inter-individual variability. This is shown mostly by single-case studies on individuals with poor rhythmic abilities. Little is known about the causes of these inter-individual differences in beat tracking. The long-term goal of this research program is to shed light on the fundamental mechanisms underlying beat tracking and its variability in the general population. This is part of a long-term vision, which has driven my research for more than a decade, aimed at gaining a better understanding of musicality and its variability in the general population. This research program will focus on identifying profiles of beat tracking skills in the general population using explicit and implicit tasks, in relation with general cognitive functioning. Moreover it will examine how these inter-individual differences affect the learning of beat tracking skills. The program includes three parts, to achieve three inter-related goals. In the first part, the goal is to characterise individual profiles for beat tracking in a large group of participants using comprehensive behavioural testing of explicit and implicit timing, and of cognitive functions. The second part will capitalise on the results obtained in the first part to examine the effect of a dedicated rhythm training protocol over both beat tracking skills and cognitive functions, in relation to individual profiles of beat tracking. Finally, in the third part the individual electrophysiological and behavioural predictors of learning speed and accuracy using the same rhythm training protocol will be thoroughly examined.