Delayed feedback embedded in perception-action coordination cycles results in anticipation behavior during synchronized rhythmic action: A dynamical systems approach

Dancing and playing music require people to coordinate actions with auditory rhythms. In laboratory perception-action coordination tasks, people are asked to synchronize taps with a metronome. When synchronizing with a metronome, people tend to anticipate stimulus onsets, tapping slightly before the stimulus. The anticipation tendency increases with longer stimulus periods of up to 3500ms, but is less pronounced in trained individuals like musicians compared to non-musicians. Furthermore, external factors influence the timing of tapping. These factors include the presence of auditory feedback from one’s own taps, the presence of a partner performing coordinated joint tapping, and transmission latencies (TLs) between coordinating partners. Phenomena like the anticipation tendency can be explained by delay-coupled systems, which may be inherent to the sensorimotor system during perception-action coordination. Here we tested whether a dynamical systems model based on this hypothesis reproduces observed patterns of human synchronization. We simulated behavior with a model consisting of an oscillator receiving its own delayed activity as input. Three simulation experiments were conducted using previously-published behavioral data from 1) simple tapping, 2) two-person alternating beat-tapping, and 3) two-person alternating rhythm-clapping in the presence of a range of constant auditory TLs. In Experiment 1, our model replicated the larger anticipation observed for longer stimulus intervals and adjusting the amplitude of the delayed feedback reproduced the difference between musicians and non-musicians. In Experiment 2, by connecting two models we replicated the smaller anticipation observed in human joint tapping with bi-directional auditory feedback compared to joint tapping without feedback. In Experiment 3, we varied TLs between two models alternately receiving signals from one another. Results showed reciprocal lags at points of alternation, consistent with behavioral patterns. Overall, our model explains various anticipatory behaviors, and has potential to inform theories of adaptive human synchronization.Author summary: When navigating a busy sidewalk, people coordinate their behavior in an orderly manner. Other activities require people to carefully synchronize periodic actions, as in a group rowing or marching. When individuals tap in synchrony with a metronome, their taps tend to anticipate the metronome. Experiments have revealed that factors like musical expertise, the presence of a synchronizing partner, auditory feedback, and the sound travel time, all systematically affect the tendency to anticipate. While researchers have hypothesized a number of potential mechanisms for such anticipatory behavior, none have successfully accounted for all of the effects. Previous research on coupled physical systems has shown that when one system receives input from a second system, plus its own delayed signal as input, this causes system 1 to anticipate system 2. We hypothesize that the tendency to anticipate is the result of delayed communication between neurons. Our work demonstrates the ability of delay-coupled physical systems to capture human anticipation and the effect of external factors in the anticipation tendency. Our model supports the theory that delayed communication within the nervous system is crucial to understanding anticipatory coordinative behavior.