<p>How do people "synchronize" to a periodic signal? In other words, given an oscillating auditory signal, how do people decide where the beat is? Assuming a "beat" divides a signal into equal repeating parts. Do they converge after a certain amount of time or is it a sudden decision? Alternatively, if there is a name for this type of beat-seeking experiment, this would also be appreciated.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-21T07:09:55.337Z
Related https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/11041/11318 possibly the Kelso paper may have some interesting insights.
Robin Kramer-ten Have
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-22T03:43:08.160Z
@AliceD it's not specifically addressing binaural beats and I've clarified what I mean by synchronize.
Seanny123
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-23T08:03:03.877Z
I'm still not sure what you mean with 'beat'. Periodic signals do not have to contain any beats? A sinusoid doesn't have beats, yet is periodic. Looped [white] noise is periodic, yet doesn't contain beats.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-23T15:06:42.573Z
[Kaernbach (1992)](http://asa.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1121/1.403948) looked at how people perceived repeated samples of white noise. Is that the type of thing you are looking for?
StrongBad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-23T15:47:15.203Z
@AliceD clarified my definition of "beat"
Seanny123
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-23T15:47:47.700Z
@StrongBad yep, precisely
Seanny123
<cognitive-psychology><memory>
Finding the repeating part of a signal
Seanny123
# Finding the repeating part of a signal

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-20)

How do people "synchronize" to a periodic signal? In other words, given an oscillating auditory signal, how do people decide where the beat is? Assuming a "beat" divides a signal into equal repeating parts. Do they converge after a certain amount of time or is it a sudden decision? Alternatively, if there is a name for this type of beat-seeking experiment, this would also be appreciated.

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, memory

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/11041/11318 possibly the Kelso paper may have some interesting insights.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 it's not specifically addressing binaural beats and I've clarified what I mean by synchronize.  
> **username_2**: I'm still not sure what you mean with 'beat'. Periodic signals do not have to contain any beats? A sinusoid doesn't have beats, yet is periodic. Looped [white] noise is periodic, yet doesn't contain beats.  
> **username_3**: [Kaernbach (1992)](http://asa.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1121/1.403948) looked at how people perceived repeated samples of white noise. Is that the type of thing you are looking for?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 clarified my definition of "beat"  
> **username_0**: @username_3 yep, precisely  

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## 0 answers

