Effects of an auditory model on the learning of relative and absolute timing

The effects of an auditory model on the learning of relative and absolute t iming were examined. In 2 experiments, participants attempted to learn to p roduce a 1,000- or 1,600-ms sequence of 5 key presses with a specific relat ive-timing pattern. In each experiment, participants were, or were not, pro vided an auditory model that consisted of a series of tones that were tempo rally spaced according to the criterion relative-timing pattern. In Experim ent 1, participants (n = 14) given the auditory template exhibited better r elative- and absolute-timing performance than participants (n = 14) not giv en the auditory template. In Experiment 2, auditory and no-auditory templat e groups again were tested, but in that experiment each physical practice p articipant (n = 16) was paired during acquisition with an observer (n = 16) . The observer was privy to all instructions as well as auditory and visual information that was provided the physical practice participant. The resul ts replicated the results of Experiment 1: Relative-timing information was enhanced by the auditory template for both the physical and observation pra ctice participants. Absolute timing was improved only when the auditory mod el was coupled with physical practice. Consistent with the proposal of D. M . Scully and K. M. Newell (1985), modeled timing information in physical an d observational practice benefited the learning of the relative-timing feat ures of the task, but physical practice was required to enhance absolute ti ming.