Testing beat perception without sensory cues to the beat: the Beat-Drop Alignment Test (BDAT)

Beat perception can serve as a window into internal time-keeping mechanisms, auditory-motor interactions, and aspects of cognition. A popular test of beat perception, the Beat Alignment Test (BAT), asks listeners to judge if metronomic probe sounds are on the beat of music or not. In theory, this judgment could be made based on an ongoing internal pulse or by comparing probe timing to local acoustic events like a bass drum. The current study …