The Use of Rhythm in the Acquisition of Motor Skills

This research assessed whether rhythm aids in the acquisition of motor skills by providing cues for the timing of those skills. The nature of representations of rhythms in memory was also explored. Certain rhythms have stable memory representations, while others have unstable representations. It was hypothesized that rhythms that had stable memory representations would be more beneficial in learning a skill than unstable rhythms. Three groups learned three different rhythms by practicing a tracking task. Three different tracks displayed the three rhythms. Following training, subjects attempted to reproduce the rhythms from memory. The results suggest that rhythms do help in learning motor skills, but stable rhythms are not superior to unstable rhythms.