Testing sensorimotor timing across age and music experience in a real-world environment

Rhythmic ability has been studied for more than a century in laboratory settings testing timed finger taps. While robust results emerged, it remains unclear whether these findings reflect behavioral limitations in realistic scenarios. This study tested the synchronization-continuation task in a museum with 335 visitors of a wide variety of ages (5-68yrs), music experiences (0-40yrs) and educational and cultural backgrounds. Adopting a dynamic system’s perspective, three metronome pacing periods were anchored around each individual’s preferred tempo: the preferred tempo, 20% faster, and 20% slower. Key laboratory findings were replicated and extended to a large age range and individuals with only informal music training: timing error and variability decreased during childhood and increased in older adults, and they were lower even with only moderate music experience. Consistent with an oscillator perspective, timing at non-preferred tempi drifted toward their preferred rate. Overall, these findings demonstrate that some of the main results on sensorimotor timing from controlled experiments are robust to noisy, naturalistic settings.