Absolute Pitch

Deutsch, Diana

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-381460-9.00005-5

Cited by 77 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 175 publications

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“…The ability is reported to be remarkably rare in Western cultures, with an estimated prevalence of less than one in 10,000 individuals (e.g., Bachem, 1955;Deutsch, 2013). While the ability to name an isolated musical note might not seem to be particularly important-more akin to a party trick than a useful skill-historically AP has been viewed as a desirable ability (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Auditory working memory predicts individual differences in absolute pitch learning

et al. 2015

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Auditory working memory predicts individual differences in absolute pitch learning

et al. 2015

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“…middle C or concert A) without reference to an external standard [43], is an unusual skill found only in a small percentage of people. AP involves at least two separate cognitive skills: memory for pitch, which seems to be widespread among humans [44] and non-human animals [45], and the ability to attach labels to stimuli (e.g.…”

Section: Musicality At the Extremes (A) Disorders Of Music Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AP involves at least two separate cognitive skills: memory for pitch, which seems to be widespread among humans [44] and non-human animals [45], and the ability to attach labels to stimuli (e.g. classifying tones with different spectral characteristics, such as piano or voice, and consequently labelling their pitch class), which appears to be rarer [43]. In early reports, the prevalence of AP in the general population was estimated to be 1 in 10 000 [46], but more recent studies suggest that it may be found in as many as 1 in 1500 people [21].…”

Section: Musicality At the Extremes (A) Disorders Of Music Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining the biological bases of individual differences in musicality

Gingras

Honing

Peretz

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 12 to a theme issue 'Biology, cognition and origins of musicality'. Advances in molecular technologies make it possible to pinpoint genomic factors associated with complex human traits. For cognition and behaviour, identification of underlying genes provides new entry points for deciphering the key neurobiological pathways. In the past decade, the search for genetic correlates of musicality has gained traction. Reports have documented familial clustering for different extremes of ability, including amusia and absolute pitch (AP), with twin studies demonstrating high heritability for some music-related skills, such as pitch perception. Certain chromosomal regions have been linked to AP and musical aptitude, while individual candidate genes have been investigated in relation to aptitude and creativity. Most recently, researchers in this field started performing genome-wide association scans. Thus far, studies have been hampered by relatively small sample sizes and limitations in defining components of musicality, including an emphasis on skills that can only be assessed in trained musicians. With opportunities to administer standardized aptitude tests online, systematic large-scale assessment of musical abilities is now feasible, an important step towards high-powered genome-wide screens. Here, we offer a synthesis of existing literatures and outline concrete suggestions for the development of comprehensive operational tools for the analysis of musical phenotypes.

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“…Indeed, in the case of pitch, the longstanding view is that only listeners with absolute pitch remember key after a delay lasting a minute or longer (Krumhansl, 2000). Absolute pitch is the rare ability to identify or produce a musical tone (e.g., middle C) in isolation (for a review, see Deutsch, 2013).…”

Section: Melody Absolute Pitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

Schellenberg

Habashi

2015

Mem Cogn

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The identity of a melody is independent of surface features such as key (pitch level), tempo (speed), and timbre (musical instrument). We examined the duration of memory for melodies (tunes) and whether such memory is affected by changes in key, tempo, or timbre. After listening to previously unfamiliar melodies twice, participants provided recognition ratings for the same (old) melodies as well as for an equal number of new melodies. The delay between initial exposure and test was 10 min, 1 day, or 1 week. In Experiment 1, half of the old melodies were transposed by six semitones or shifted in tempo by 64 beats per minute. In Experiment 2, half of the old melodies were changed in timbre (piano to saxophone, or vice versa). In both experiments, listeners remembered the melodies, and there was no forgetting over the course of a week. Changing the key or tempo from exposure to test had a detrimental impact on recognition after 10 min and 1 day, but not after 1 week. Changing the timbre affected recognition negatively after all three delays. Mental representations of unfamiliar melodies appear to be consolidated after only two presentations. These representations include surface information unrelated to a melody's identity, although information about key and tempo fades at a faster rate than information about timbre.

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Absolute Pitch

Cited by 77 publications

References 175 publications

Auditory working memory predicts individual differences in absolute pitch learning

Auditory working memory predicts individual differences in absolute pitch learning

Defining the biological bases of individual differences in musicality

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

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