Tempo-dependent selective enhancement of neural responses at the beat frequency can be mimicked by both an oscillator and an evoked model

A crucial mechanism for the brain to make sense of the auditory environment is the synchronization of neural responses to external temporal regularities, such as a musical beat. It is debated whether this synchronization and the resulting beat percept reflect phase alignment of endogenous neural oscillations to the external regularity ("entrainment"), or evoked responses to the rhythmic stimulus ("tracking"). Here, we use the tempo-dependent properties of beat processing to differentiate between the two accounts. Participants listened to a repeating rhythmic pattern at different speeds. Behaviorally, they consistently tapped at the preferred beat rate (around 2 Hz) across tempi, shifting to higher metrical levels as tempo increased. We found a similar shift in EEG data, where the metrical level at which neural synchronization was strongest depended on tempo. This selective enhancement is consistent with entrainment accounts and could indeed be mimicked by an oscillator model. However, importantly, the results were also captured by a model simulating evoked responses. Together, our findings demonstrate that while neural responses to rhythm are selectively enhanced at the beat rate, this enhancement need not be taken as evidence for entrainment, but can also be explained by successive evoked responses.