Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Many rhythm perception experiments employ simple isochronous rhythms, in which synchronous neural or behav-ioral responses are observed. However, responses at the stimulus frequency do not allow one to distinguish whether synchronyoccurs as a response to common input, or as the result of an emergent population oscillation that entrains at a particular fre-quency. This study aimed to investigate whether the sensorimotor system, as measured by 32- channel cortical EEG, wouldentrain to a complex rhythm at the pulse frequency even when the complex rhythm contained no spectral power at that fre-quency. Dynamical analysis predicts neural oscillation will emerge at such a “missing” pulse frequency. We report evidence ofresponse in the EEG to missing 2 Hz pulse rhythms. These data support the theory that rhythmic synchrony occurs as the resultof an emergent population oscillation that entrains at this particular frequency. We also discuss generators of the missing pulseresponse.