Behavioural studies of rhythm and music perception

Study 1 - The Memory Experiment
- Healthy young adults
- Ages 18-35
- Normal hearing and vision (glasses or contacts are okay)
- Native English speakers
- No memory impairments
- Musicians (10+ years formal training) OR non-musicians (less than 2 years formal training)

Study 2 - Rhythm Rescaling
- Healthy young adults
- Ages 18-35
- Normal hearing
- English speaking

Study 3 - The Music Single-Domain-Task-Battery (Music-SDTB)
- Healthy adults
- Ages 18-50
- Good written and oral English comprehension
- Exclusion Criteria: metal or other ferromagnetic device in body (e.g., pacemaker, fixed dental braces or retainers, piercings, earrings) that cannot be removed; having undertaken brain surgery at any point in life, or a history of neurological or psychiatric disorder; currently taking psychotropic medication (e.g., antidepressants); large tattoos close to the head.

Study 4 - Sync-Social Reward
- Healthy adults
- Ages 18 – 35
- Right handed
- Normal hearing
- No neurological disorders or self-reported amusia (no enjoyment of music)
- Not currently taking psychotropic medication.

Study 5 - Effects of training individuals without a musical background on timing across different modalities
- Healthy non-musician adults
- Ages 18 – 35
- Normal hearing
- Exclusion criteria: You CAN NOT participate in this study if you have over 2 years of musical training.

Study 1 - The Memory Experiment
The goal of this study is to better understand how short-term memory works in relation to a number of personal characteristics such as musicality and personality. Participants will complete a number of tasks on a computer and out-loud involving short-term memory, abstract reasoning, vocabulary knowledge, and music perception. 
The study will last 1.5 - 2 hours.

Study 2 - Rhythm Rescaling
We are interested in how people learn to tap rhythmic patterns. In this study, you will be asked to attend 5 sessions (each on a different day), each about 1 hour long. During the sessions you will hear rhythmic sounds and be asked to tap along with the rhythm, or tap the rhythm during silence.

Study 3 - The Music Single-Domain-Task-Battery (Music-SDTB)
For this study, participants will be first asked to undertake three behavioral sessions, in which they will perform a battery of tasks pertaining to temporal predictions according to different situations. After, they will be asked to perform the exact same tasks for two more sessions inside a magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) scanner while we record their brain activity.

Study 4 - Sync-Social Reward
This is an electroencephalographic (EEG) study of approximately 2.5 to 3 hours total including EEG setup, tasks and time to debrief and wash your hair (everything is provided to wash hair). EEG is a safe, non-invasive and painless neuroimaging technique used to record electrical brain oscillation. It requires wearing a cap (like a swimming cap) and having highly conductive gel placed in your hair. There are 3 independent tasks, in the first task participants will listen to music with some other people online, and report in real-time their musical emotions while we record the brain activity with EEG. In the second task, participants will detect if a probe tone is on or off the beat while listening to short musical clips, the brain activity is also recorded with EEG during this task. For the last task, participants are required to tap the beat along with music without EEG recording.

Study 5 - Effects of training individuals without a musical background on timing across different modalities
We are interested in how training people in auditory or visual beat perception might affect their timing in the same or different modalities. You will be required to attend a pre-test in-person experiment (75 min), then complete 10 training sessions at home (4 min each) over a period of 14 days, and finally attend another in-person experiment which will be the same as the pre-test. During pre/post-tests your timing ability in three different modalities of audition, vision, and touch will be evaluated. During each trial of the experiment, you will receive three stimuli in a row one of which is different from the other two, and need to identify the different one.

Principal Investigator: Jessica Grahn
Study posted on: February 1st, 2019
Recruitment open

For more information about this study please contact:

Study 1 - The Memory Experiment
Caitlin Fitzpatrick
cfitzp8@uwo.ca

Study 2 - Rhythm Rescaling
Josh Hoddinott
jhoddin@uwo.ca

Study 3 - The Music Single-Domain-Task-Battery (Music-SDTB)
Ana Luisa Pinho
agrilopi@uwo.ca

Study 4 - Sync-Social Reward
Thibault Chabin
tchabin@uwo.ca

Study 5 - Effects of training individuals without a musical background on timing across different modalities
Zhaleh Mohammad Alipour
zmoham22@uwo.ca