INFERENCE OF METRICAL STRUCTURE FROM PERCEPTION OF ITERATIVE PULSES WITHIN TIME SPANS DEFINED BY CHORD CHANGES

In many theories of meter inference (e.g., Benjamin, 1984, Lerdahl & J ackendoff, 1983), the cues that serve as markers for major metrical ac cent locations are the basis from which one infers or determines a met er. However, phrase and metrical structure of ten support one another with phrase boundaries coinciding with metrically important locations. Thus, it becomes difficult to determine which cues, if any, are used predominantly as the basis for meter inference. Three experiments are presented in which different time spans defined by harmonic, melodic, and temporal accents, and their coincidences were systematically pitte d against one another. Musicians and nonmusicians were requested to id entify the meter of the stimuli as belonging to a category of either a triple (e.g., 6/8 or 3/4 time), or a duple meter (e.g., 2/4 or 4/4 ti me). It was found that musicians use harmonic information much more of ten and reliably than do nonmusicians, who also use the temporal accen t to define a metrical structure. Nevertheless, across all experiments , when a harmonic accent was present, subjects used that accent to def ine the meter. Furthermore, the coincidence of melodic accents was use d more often than a temporal accent to determine a metrical structure. The implications of these findings in light of other research that sh ows that a temporal accent is heard as initiating major metrical locat ions (Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983; Longuet-Higgins & Lee, 1982, 1984; L onguet-Higgins & Steedman, 1971; Steedman, 1977) are discussed.