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Moving in time: Bayesian causal inference explains movement coordination to auditory beats.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Elliott, Mark T 
Wing, Alan M 
Welchman, Andrew E 

Abstract

Many everyday skilled actions depend on moving in time with signals that are embedded in complex auditory streams (e.g. musical performance, dancing or simply holding a conversation). Such behaviour is apparently effortless; however, it is not known how humans combine auditory signals to support movement production and coordination. Here, we test how participants synchronize their movements when there are potentially conflicting auditory targets to guide their actions. Participants tapped their fingers in time with two simultaneously presented metronomes of equal tempo, but differing in phase and temporal regularity. Synchronization therefore depended on integrating the two timing cues into a single-event estimate or treating the cues as independent and thereby selecting one signal over the other. We show that a Bayesian inference process explains the situations in which participants choose to integrate or separate signals, and predicts motor timing errors. Simulations of this causal inference process demonstrate that this model provides a better description of the data than other plausible models. Our findings suggest that humans exploit a Bayesian inference process to control movement timing in situations where the origin of auditory signals needs to be resolved.

Description

Keywords

Bayesian inference, motor timing, movement synchronization, sensory integration, Adult, Auditory Perception, Bayes Theorem, Cues, England, Female, Humans, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Time Perception, Young Adult

Journal Title

Proc Biol Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0962-8452
1471-2954

Volume Title

281

Publisher

The Royal Society
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (095183/Z/10/Z)