Forward entrainment in pitch discrimination (data analysis)

The Matlab programs uploaded here generate 5 figures (3 primary and 2 supplemental), 2 videos, and 4 audio files associated with a reanalysis of findings by Lin et al. (2021), Eur. J. Neurosci, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15208. Several studies have demonstrated psychophysical forward entrainment in a pitch-discrimination task. Lin et al. (2021) has challenged these findings by demonstrating that a sequence of 4 entraining pure tones does not affect the ability to determine whether an FM pulse, presented after termination of the entraining sequence, has swept up or down in frequency. They conclude that rhythmic sequences do not facilitate pitch discrimination. Here we provide data analysis that shows several methodological and stimulus design confounds in Lin et al.’s study that may explain their failure to observe forward entrainment in pitch discrimination.