Finger Tapping in Musicians and Nonmusicians

Timing plays an important role in perceiving and performing music. Finger tapping has been successfully used for analyzing timing processes (Fraisse, 1966, Franĕk et al., 1987, 1988). The aim of this study is to determine differences between musically trained and untrained subjects in their ability to follow repetitive rhythmic tonal patterns by finger tapping. It has been found previously (Povel, 1981; Smith, 1983) that time estimation differs among musicians and nonmusicians under certain conditions. The results presented here show that motor timing revealed by tapping is more accurate in musicians than in nonmusicians.