Auditory aversion in absolute pitch possessors

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

et al. 2021

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Absolute pitch (AP) refers to the ability to effortlessly identify given pitches without any reference. Correlative evidence suggests that the left posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is responsible for the process underlying pitch labeling in AP. Here, we measured the sight-reading performance of right-handed AP possessors and matched controls under cathodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation of the left DLPFC. The participants were instructed to report notations as accurately and as fast as possible by playing with their right hand on a piano. The notations were simultaneously presented with distracting auditory stimuli that either matched or mismatched them in different semitone degrees. Unlike the controls, AP possessors revealed an interference effect in that they responded slower in mismatching conditions than in the matching one. Under cathodal stimulation, this interference effect disappeared. These findings confirm that the pitch-labeling process underlying AP occurs automatically and is largely nonsuppressible when triggered by tone exposure. The improvement of the AP possessors' sight-reading performances in response to the suppression of the left DLPFC using cathodal stimulation confirms a causal relationship between this brain structure and pitch labeling.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

The left dorsal stream causally mediates the tone labeling in absolute pitch

Rogenmoser

Arnicane

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

et al. 2021

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“…In line with previous Stroop and other interference studies on AP [22,40,43,[45][46][47][48]73], these results confirm that the pitch-labeling process is largely non-suppressible when triggered by tone exposure, interfering with the conflicting task of sight-reading. The fact that our well-matched control musician sample without AP did not show this interference pattern further suggests that automaticity in the context of pitch labeling is unique for AP.…”

Section: Stroop and Tdcs Findingssupporting

confidence: 90%

The left dorsal stream causally mediates the tone labeling in absolute pitch

Rogenmoser

Arnicane

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundAbsolute pitch (AP) refers to the ability of effortlessly identifying given pitches without the reliance on any reference pitch. Correlative evidence suggests that the left posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is responsible for the process underlying pitch labeling in AP.ObjectiveHere, we aimed at investigating the causal relationship between the DLPFC and the pitch-labeling process underlying AP.MethodsTo address this, we measured sight-reading performance of right-handed AP possessors and matched control musicians (N =18 per sample) under cathodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation of the left DLPFC. The participants were instructed to report visually presenting notations as accurately and fast as possible by playing with their right hand on a piano. The notations were simultaneously presented with distracting auditory stimuli that either matched or mismatched them in different semitone degrees.ResultsUnlike the control participants, the AP possessors revealed an interference effect in that they responded slower in mismatching conditions than in the matching one. Under cathodal stimulation, half of the time discrepancies between matching and mismatching conditions vanished; specifically, the ones with small up to moderate deviations.ConclusionsThese findings confirm that the pitch-labeling process underlying AP occurs automatically and is largely non-suppressible when triggered by tone exposure. The improvement of the AP possessors’ sight-reading performance in response to the suppression of the left DLPFC using cathodal stimulation confirms a causal relationship between this brain structure and pitch labeling.

“…If pitch labeling is difficult to suppress, AP musicians are expected to show some signs of increased inhibitory load due to the conflicting information, such as more commission errors and/or larger N2d/P3d amplitudes than non-AP musicians. Also, it has been suggested that AP musicians may have an aversion towards mistuned tones (Levitin and Rogers, 2005 ; Rogenmoser et al, 2020 ). This could increase the inhibitory load even further.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suppression of Pitch Labeling: No Evidence for an Impact of Absolute Pitch on Behavioral and Neurophysiological Measures of Cognitive Inhibition in an Auditory Go/Nogo Task

Greber

2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Pitch labeling in absolute pitch (AP), the ability to recognize the pitch class of a sound without an external reference, is effortless, fast, and presumably automatic. Previous studies have shown that pitch labeling in AP can interfere with task demands. In the current study, we used a cued auditory Go/Nogo task requiring same/different decisions to investigate both behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of increased inhibitory demands related to automatic pitch labeling. The task comprised two Nogo conditions: a Nogo condition with pitch differences larger than one semitone, and a second Nogo condition with pitch differences of only a quarter semitone. The first Nogo condition tested if auditory-related inhibition processes are generally altered in AP musicians. The second Nogo condition tested the suppressibility of the pitch labeling using a Stroop-like effect: the two tones belonged to the same pitch class but were not identical in terms of tone frequency. If pitch labeling cannot be suppressed, the conflicting information would be expected to increase the inhibitory load in AP musicians. Our data provided no evidence for an increased difficulty to inhibit a prepotent response or to suppress conflicting pitch-labeling information in AP: AP musicians showed similar commission error rates as non-AP musicians in both Nogo conditions. N2d and P3d amplitudes of AP musicians were also comparable to those of non-AP musicians. The event-related potentials (ERPs) were, however, modulated by the Nogo condition, probably indicating an effect of stimulus similarity. It is possible that, depending on the context, pitch labeling in AP musicians is not entirely automatic and can be suppressed.