Pitch can be conceptualized as a bidimensional quantity, reflecting both the overall pitch level of a tone (tone height) and its position in the octave (tone chroma). Though such a conceptualization has been well supported for perception of a single tone, it has been argued that the dimension of tone chroma is irrelevant in melodic perception. In the current study, melodies were subjected to structural transformations designed to evaluate the effects of interval magnitude, contour, tone height, and tone chroma. In two transformations, the component tones of a melody were displaced by octave intervals, either preserving or violating the pattern of changes in pitch direction (melodic contour). Replicating previous work, when contour was violated perception of the melody was severely disrupted. In contrast, when contour was preserved the melodies were identified as accurately as the untransformed melodies. In other transformations, a variety of forms of contour information were preserved, while eliminating information for absolute pitch and interval magnitude. The level of performance on all such transformations fell between the levels observed in the other two conditions. These results suggest that the bidimensional model of pitch is applicable to recognition of melodies as well as single tones. Moreover, the results argue that contour, as well as interval magnitude, is providing essential information for melodic perception. Psychophysical investigations have focused upon developing unidimensional psychological scales of pitch as a monotonically increasing function of the unidimensional physical scale of frequency. Though such scales have been developed with reasonable success (e.g., Stevens & Volkmann, 1940; Stevens, Volkmann, & Newmann, 1937), there is a body of research to suggest that pitch perception may be more complex than a simple monotonic scale would indicate (Attneave
Two experiments determined backward and forward recognition masking functions in a lateralization task. Observers were presented with a 20-msec pure tone that differed in intensity to the two ears. The task was to indicate whether the tone came from the right or left. A second backward-masking tone interfered with the lateralization of the first test tone if it was presented within 180–250 msec of the first tone presentation. In contrast, a forward-masking tone had to be presented within 80 msec of the test-tone presentation in order to interfere with lateralization of the test tone. The results also showed that observers tended to lateralize the test sound in the direction of the masking sound if the test and masking sounds occurred within a 100-msec period. In a third experiment, subjects were required to identify a test tone as high or low in pitch in a recognition masking task. Although pitch judgments showed as much or more backward masking than lateralization judgments, significantly less forward masking was found in the pitch judgment task. Relative to lateralization judgments, observers showed a smaller tendency to judge the pitch of the test tone in the direction of the pitch of the masking sound. Subject Classification: [43]65.75, [43]65.54, [43]65.62, [43]65.58.
A series of experiments explored the temporal course of the perceived duration of an auditory stimulus. A backward recognition masking paradigm was utilized, in which the subject was to determine which of two target durations was presented on a given trial. The target tone was followed, after a variable silent intertone interval, by a masking tone which could assume one of three possible durations. Identification of the long target was found to improve consistently with increases in the intertone interval. In contrast, identification of the short target was as accurate at the short as at the long intertone intervals. Blocking the intertone interval across experimental sessions eliminated these differences between the two target tones. Performance on both the long and the short target tones improved monotonically with increases in the intertone interval. When masking tone duration was randomized within an experimental session, identification of the long (short) target was most accurate with the longer (shorter) masking tone. Blocking the duration of the masking tone across experimental sessions eliminated the effect of the duration of the mask, but did not alter any of the other results. A model, proposed to account for the results, assumes that the percept of target duration grows over time, and can be terminated by the onset of the masking tone. The masking tone also acts to lengthen the perceived duration of the target tone, and this lengthening is a direct function of the duration of the masking tone.
A series of experiments explored the role of structural information in the auditory recognition process, within the context of a backward recognition masking paradigm. A masking tone presented after a tl!st tone has been found to interfere with the perceptual processing of the test tone, the degree of interference decreasing with increased durations of the silent intertone interval between the test and masking tones. In the current studies, the task was modified to utilize three-tone sequences as the test stimuli. Six test sequences were employed (LMH, LHM, MLH, MHL, HLM, HML), where L, M, and H represent the lowest, middle, and highest frequencies in the melody. The observers identified these six possible sequences when the three tones of the test sequence were interleaved with three presentations of a single masking tone. All three tones of the test sequence were drawn from the same octave, while the masking tones could be drawn from any of three octaves, symmetrical around the octave containing the test tones. Under these conditions, interference occurred primarily from masking tones drawn from the same octave as the test tones. Masking tones drawn from other octaves were found to produce little, if any, interference with perception of the test tones. This effect was found to occur only for the identification of tonal sequences. Substantial masking of single-tone targets occurred with masking tones drawn from octaves other than that containing the targets. The results make apparent the use of structural information during auditory recognition. A theoretical interpretation was advanced which suggests that, while single tones are perceived on the basis of absolute pitch, the presence of auditory structure may allow relational information, such as exact pitch intervals or melodic contour, to facilitate perception of the tonal sequence.
Backward recognition masking refers to interference of a second masking tone with recognition of a target tone presented earlier in time. The degree of interference has been found to decrease as the length of the silent interval separating the two tones increases. These results have been interpreted as representing interference of the masking tone upon the preperceptual storage and perceptual resolution of the target. It is logically possible, however, that the masking tone does not interfere with perceptual resolution but interferes with comparison of the target to a long-term memory representation. The current research was designed to provide a critical test of this alternative hypothesis by modifying the backward recognition masking task. Subjects determined whether the masking tone was higher or lower in pitch than the target tone. The frequencies of the target and masking tones varied randomly across trials. This ensured that the task could not be performed by comparing the target to a representation in long-term memory. Nevertheless, masking was obtained in this task, arguing against the comparison argument and in favor of the perceptual resolution interpretation. Given that masking was obtained under both ipsilateral and contralateral presentation of the tones, the results argue for a central preperceptual auditory storage that holds information after the inputs from the two ears are combined in the auditory system.
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