Figure 1.

Examples of the stimuli and the experimental design. (A) Pictures taken from the silent movies of an analog metronome and three conductors were presented. The conductors’ faces were blurred to avoid brain activity related to facial expressions. (B) Schema of beat presentation. The inter-beat intervals (IBI) under all conditions were kept constant up to the 9th beat. Under the constant condition the IBI was not changed up to the last beat. Under the deceleration condition, the IBI was prolonged from the 9th beat onwards. (C) Conductors’ typical arm trajectory presenting each beat in a quadruple. The small numbered circles represent the points that, according to the literature, are used to indicate each beat. (D) The time course of the IBI of the metronome movements and conductors’ gestures under the fast condition (starting from 120 bpm) (E) The time course of the IBI of the metronome movements and the conductors’ gestures under the slow condition (starting from 90 bpm).