Effects of a partner’s tap intervals on an individual’s timing control increase in slow-tempo dyad synchronisation using finger-tapping

In musical ensembles, musicians synchronise their movements with other members of the ensemble at various tempos. This study aims to investigate the extent of tempo dependency of own and partner’s timing information on rhythm production. We conducted a dyad synchronisation-continuous finger-tapping task. First, two participants synchronised with the same auditory metronome at various tempos. Subsequently, after stopping the metronome, the participants maintained the tempo with the presentation of the partner’s tap timing via auditory signals. This task was conducted in six metronome tempo conditions at 700 to 3,200 ms in 500 ms step. It was found that the partner’s previous inter-tap intervals increased as the metronome tempo decreased. The effects of own previous inter-tap intervals and synchronisation errors between own and the partner’s tap timing did not depend on the metronome tempo. Therefore, timing control in dyad synchronisation was affected by the partner’s tempo more strongly in slow than fast tempos. This strong effect of the partner in slow-tempo rhythm synchronisation could be due to stronger attention to the partner’s movement timing in slower tempos than in fast tempos.