title: Information-Theoretic Measures Predict the Human Judgment of Rhythm Complexity.
abstract: To formalize the human judgment of rhythm complexity, we used five measures from information theory and algorithmic complexity to measure the complexity of 48 artificially generated rhythmic sequences. We compared these measurements to human prediction accuracy and easiness judgments obtained from a listening experiment, in which 32 participants guessed the last beat of each sequence. We also investigated the modulating effects of musical expertise and general pattern identification ability. Entropy rate and Kolmogorov complexity were correlated with prediction accuracy, and highly correlated with easiness judgments. A logistic regression showed main effects of musical training, entropy rate, and Kolmogorov complexity, and an interaction between musical training and both entropy rate and Kolmogorov complexity. These results indicate that information-theoretic concepts capture some salient features of the human judgment of rhythm complexity, and they confirm the influence of musical expertise on complexity judgments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Remi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Fleurian
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing, Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blackwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Music, Kingston University.
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ben-Tal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Müllensiefen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D019277:Entropy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Entropy rate; Information theory measures; Kolmogorov complexity; Musical expertise; Rhythm complexity; Rhythm perception