<p>A sample rhythm pattern was presented at the beginning of each trial. Each rhythm pattern consisted of three repeats of a three-pure-tone sequence. The participants were required to memorize the rhythm pattern within 6 s (encoding phase), to maintain the rhythm information for 6–12 s (maintenance phase), and reproduce it by tapping with the right index finger, left index finger or right foot, or by articulation within 8 s (retrieval phase). We used 20 rhythmic patterns for each participant. The two out of three durations (SOA1, SOA2 and IUI) in each pattern were constantly same. The SOA and IUI were chosen from six possible durations (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 or 1.2 s) so that the duration of each rhythmic pattern ranged from 4 to 6 s. Abbreviations: SOA, stimulus onset asynchrony; IUI, inter-unit-interval.</p
