Cross-cultural perspectives on pitch memory

Trehub, Sandra E.; Schellenberg, E. Glenn; Nakata, Takayuki

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.01.007

Cited by 32 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(94 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar evidence has been found for adults' memory for the pitch of the dial tone (Smith & Schmuckler, 2008) and for children's Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0519-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Schellenberg, & Nakata, 2008) and infants' (Volkova, Trehub, & Schellenberg, 2006) memory for the key of familiar recordings. Infants' memory for key is evident with lullabies sung expressively in a foreign language (Volkova et al, 2006), but not with computer-generated tunes presented in a piano timbre (Plantinga & Trainor, 2005).…”

Section: Melody Absolute Pitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

Schellenberg

Habashi

2015

Mem Cogn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Melody Absolute Pitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

Schellenberg

Habashi

2015

Mem Cogn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…AP abilities have been found to be more accurate in individuals who are very fluent in a tone language, compared to those who are moderately or not at all fluent (Deutsch et al, 2009). Speakers of Japanese (a pitch accented language) have been found to be better at detecting mistuning of familiar songs than are English speakers (Trehub et al, 2008; but see Schellenberg and Trehub, 2008). Similarly, the reverse relationship has also been documented, where Mandarin speakers with deficits in processing musical pitch are often also worse at identifying and discriminating Mandarin tones than are other speakers (Nan et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native Experience with a Tone Language Enhances Pitch Discrimination and the Timing of Neural Responses to Pitch Change

Giuliano¹,

Pfordresher²,

Stanley³

et al. 2011

Front. Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Native tone language experience has been linked with alterations in the production and perception of pitch in language, as well as with the brain response to linguistic and non-linguistic tones. Here we use two experiments to address whether these changes apply to the discrimination of simple pitch changes and pitch intervals. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from native Mandarin speakers and a control group during a same/different task with pairs of pure tones differing only in pitch height, and with pure tone pairs differing only in interval distance. Behaviorally, Mandarin speakers were more accurate than controls at detecting both pitch and interval changes, showing a sensitivity to small pitch changes and interval distances that was absent in the control group. Converging evidence from ERPs obtained during the same tasks revealed an earlier response to change relative to no-change trials in Mandarin speakers, as well as earlier differentiation of trials by change direction relative to controls. These findings illustrate the cross-domain influence of language experience on the perception of pitch, suggesting that the native use of tonal pitch contours in language leads to a general enhancement in the acuity of pitch representations.

show abstract

“…Part of its rarity is due to the fact that AP can be evident only among those with music training; untrained individuals have no knowledge of note names. Indeed, when memory for the specific pitch of ecologically valid stimuli (e.g., pop songs, TV theme music, the dial tone) is examined without note-naming requirements, musically untrained children [5], [6] and adults [7]–[10] demonstrate remarkably accurate memory for pitch. Even young infants remember the pitch level of sung lullabies [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absolute Pitch: Effects of Timbre on Note-Naming Ability

Vanzella

Schellenberg

2010

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAbsolute pitch (AP) is the ability to identify or produce isolated musical tones. It is evident primarily among individuals who started music lessons in early childhood. Because AP requires memory for specific pitches as well as learned associations with verbal labels (i.e., note names), it represents a unique opportunity to study interactions in memory between linguistic and nonlinguistic information. One untested hypothesis is that the pitch of voices may be difficult for AP possessors to identify. A musician's first instrument may also affect performance and extend the sensitive period for acquiring accurate AP.Methods/Principal FindingsA large sample of AP possessors was recruited on-line. Participants were required to identity test tones presented in four different timbres: piano, pure tone, natural (sung) voice, and synthesized voice. Note-naming accuracy was better for non-vocal (piano and pure tones) than for vocal (natural and synthesized voices) test tones. This difference could not be attributed solely to vibrato (pitch variation), which was more pronounced in the natural voice than in the synthesized voice. Although starting music lessons by age 7 was associated with enhanced note-naming accuracy, equivalent abilities were evident among listeners who started music lessons on piano at a later age.Conclusions/SignificanceBecause the human voice is inextricably linked to language and meaning, it may be processed automatically by voice-specific mechanisms that interfere with note naming among AP possessors. Lessons on piano or other fixed-pitch instruments appear to enhance AP abilities and to extend the sensitive period for exposure to music in order to develop accurate AP.

show abstract

Cross-cultural perspectives on pitch memory

Cited by 32 publications

References 54 publications

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

Remembering the melody and timbre, forgetting the key and tempo

Native Experience with a Tone Language Enhances Pitch Discrimination and the Timing of Neural Responses to Pitch Change

Absolute Pitch: Effects of Timbre on Note-Naming Ability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About