Periodicity, Pattern Formation, and Metric Structure

This article describes an approach to metrical structure focussing on its role as an active listening strategy. The theory postulates that metrical structure is a self-organized, dynamic structure composed of self-sustaining oscillations. The emergence of this structural representation is modeled as a pattern formation process whose the neural correlate is the formation of a spatiotemporal pattern of neural activity. The primary function of the dynamic structure is attentional. It enables anticipation of future events thus, targeting of perception, and coordination of action with exogenous events. Stability and flexibility properties arise through nonlinearities in the underlying pattern-forming dynamics. Furthermore, this dynamic representation functions in musical communication. Transient stimulus fluctuations observed in musical performance (e.g., rate changes, intonation) are not noise, but rather communicate structural information, intention, and affect. These communicative gestures are recognized as deviations from temporal expectations embodied in the metrical structure. Experiments are reviewed that investigate stimuli of varying complexity, from simple isochronous tone sequences to performed music, and the model’s success at capturing these data is assessed.