Tempo discrimination of musical patterns: Effects due to pitch and rhythmic structure

The purpose of this research was to investigate a set of factors that may i nfluence the perceived rate of an auditory event. In a paired-comparison ta sk, subjects were presented with a set of music-like patterns that differed in their relative number of contour changes and in the magnitude of pitch skips (Experiment 1) as well as in the compatibility of rhythmic accent str ucture with the arrangement of pitch relations (Experiment 2). Results indi cated that, relative to their standard referents, comparison melodies were judged to unfold more slowly when they displayed more changes in pitch dire ction, greater pitch distances, and an incompatible rhythmic accent structu re. These findings are suggested to stem from an imputed velocity hypothesi s, in which people overgeneralize certain invariant relations that typicall y occur between melodic and temporal accent structure within Western music.