Beat Perception

This interactive website allows you to explore how our brains process rhythmic information differently through visual and auditory senses. Inspired by Dr. Aniruddh Patel's research in Music and the Brain, these experiments demonstrate modality bias in beat perception - the phenomenon where humans typically process rhythmic information more accurately through auditory pathways than visual ones.

To learn more about beat perception, refer to the episode "Perceiving and Moving to a Rhythmic Beat" in Music and the Brain!

Try both the visual and auditory tests to discover your own perceptual strengths and compare your performance across different senses! Do your results match your expectations? Submit your results/feedback below!

Visual Beat Demo

Watch the circle blink at your chosen tempo. After 8 beats, try to reproduce the same rhythm for 8 beats by clicking the large "GO!" button or hitting the space bar.

Your Visual Beat Results

Auditory Beat Demo

Listen to the beats at your chosen tempo. After 8 beats, try to reproduce the same rhythm for 8 beats by clicking the large "GO!" button or hitting the space bar.

Your Auditory Beat Results

Share Your Experience

I'd love to know if your results matched your expectations, feel free to leave your results

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