Haskins Publications

Number	1076
Year	1998
Drawer	20
Entry Date	06/29/1998
Authors	Repp, Bruno H.
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Publication	Psychol Res, 61, 1998, 33-43.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1076.pdf
Abstract	Previous research has shown that, in a task requiring the detection of local derivations from mechanically precise timing in music, the relative detectability of deviations in different positions is closely related to the typical expressive timing patter musicians produced when playing the music. This result suggests that listeners expect to hear music expressively timed and compensate for the absence of expressive timing. Three new detection experiments shed additional light on the nature of these timing expectations in musically trained listeners. Experiment 1 shows that repeated exposure to an atypically (but not unmusically) timed performance leaves listeners’ timing expectations unaffected. Experiment 2 demonstrates that the expectations do not manifest themselves when listeners merely imagine the music in synchrony with a click track. Experiment 3, however, shows that the timing expectations are fully operational when the click track is superimposed on the music. These results reveal timing “expectations” to be an obligatory consequence of the ongoing auditory perception of musical structure.
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