The body's clock
Keeping a beat after it stops means your brain predicted time itself, not just reacted to sound.
Your brain builds an inner metronome from a few beats.
Continuing alone tests that inner clock against real time, tap by tap.
Timing precision supports speech, music, sport, and even reading fluency.
Then and now
Tapping research doubled within a decade of the first review; timing precision now connects to language, music, and motor development.
Repp, B. H. (2005)
Where it began“Sensorimotor synchronization: A review of the tapping literature”
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12, 969-992
The definitive review of tapping studies: how people synchronise to beats and keep time after the beat stops.
Repp, B. H. and Su, Y.-H. (2013)
State of the art“Sensorimotor synchronization: A review of recent research (2006-2012)”
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 20, 403-452
The follow-up review: timing research expanded into music, movement disorders, and development.
What we do and do not claim
Beat Keeper measures on-device tap timing against the target window and reports exactly that.