Stimulus and paradigm. a, Notation of the auditory stimuli for the isochronous pattern (top), the syncopated pattern MP1 (middle), and the syncopated pattern MP2 (bottom) stimuli. b, Time course of a sample trial. In the passive listening period, the basic pattern (2 musical bars) was repeated eight times. Then, following a cue, a test item was played consisting of the same basic pattern but the tempo could be the same, 10% faster, or 10% slower. Participant performed a tempo-judgment task on the test item.