Prior finger tapping research using pitch-monotonic isochronous sequences has demonstrated that partial correction—optimally around 40–50%—reduces asynchrony variability (Repp & Keller, 2008). Furthermore, research on pulse-finding tasks with piano music has shown that adding a pulse-salient left-hand part improves pulse-finding speed and accuracy compared to the right-hand part alone (Snyder & Krumhansl, 2001). The present study examined how musical structure and partner adaptivity influence timing stability (measured by asynchrony variability), perceived coordination ease, and enjoyment during duet performance with a virtual partner. Twenty-four musically untrained university students completed three tapping conditions: (a) a pitch-monotonic isochronous sequence with a non-adaptive partner, (b) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Twinkle Twinkle) with a non-adaptive partner, and (c) Twinkle Twinkle with an adaptive partner. All sequences used an 800-ms inter-onset interval, except for half notes in Twinkle Twinkle. Analyses of variance revealed that partner adaptivity significantly enhanced timing stability, coordination ease, and enjoyment. Musical structure further improved timing stability and enjoyment. These findings demonstrate that both musical features and partner responsiveness play key roles in shaping temporal coordination and subjective experience during musical interaction, even among musically untrained individuals.
Shirakawa et al. (Wed,) studied this question.