Replication of Experiment 1 from Povel & Essens (1985), which investigates how an internal clock influences the perception and reproduction of rhythmic sequences. Patterns that more strongly induce a regular internal beat are reproduced more accurately.
The experiment uses 35 rhythmic sequences — all permutations of the interval set {1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4} where the unit interval is 200 ms — divided into 7 categories of decreasing clock-induction strength.
Each sequence has two phases:
| Metrics recorded: number of presentations before reproduction, and reproduction error (sum of | observed − expected | inter-tap intervals in ms). |
go run main.go # fullscreen, default tone
go run main.go -d # windowed (development)
go run main.go -d -s 1 # windowed, subject ID 1
go run main.go -sound cymbal # use cymbal sound instead of tone
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-d |
off | Development mode: windowed 1024×768 |
-s |
0 |
Participant ID |
-sound |
tone |
Sound type: tone or cymbal |
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Space | Tap (learning: tap along; reproduction: tapping response) |
| Enter | Transition from learning to reproduction phase |
| Escape | Quit |
Data are saved to goxpy_data/ as a .xpd file. One row per sequence, recording sequence ID, category, number of presentations, and reproduction error in ms.
The sequence table was transcribed from an AI-generated description and may contain errors relative to the original paper. Sequences 11 and 31 are flagged as duplicates of sequences 7 and 24 in the source material. Verify all sequences against the original paper before using this for real research.
Povel, D.-J., & Essens, P. (1985). Perception of temporal patterns. Music Perception, 2(4), 411–440. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285311