Directed attention and perception of frequency changes.

Abstract

What role does attention play in the perception of components within a melody? A paradigm used by Palmer and Holleran [Percept. Psychophys. 56(3), 301–312] provides a basis for addressing this question. Their study investigated different influences on the perception of pitch alterations in three-voiced musical passages, where subjects first learned a four-measure standard, then completed a same/different task. ‘‘Different’’ passages were constructed by altering the original standard, with a harmonically related (HR) or unrelated (HU) frequency change made in the lowest, middle, or upper voices of the musical passage. Results indicated that HR changes were less detectable than HU changes and were the least detectable in the middle voice. The current study uses the same procedures and musical materials as the Palmer and Holleran work, but provides the subjects with cues indicating which frequency region might contain the alteration (low, medium, or high). Results will be discussed in terms of the role directed attention plays as a function of harmonic relationship and frequency region.

Change detection in multi-voice music: The role of musical structure, musical training, and task demands.

“…The conjecture that the asynchrony in the polyphonic compositions allows for greater segregation (or conversely, that homophony produces greater integration) of voices was further tested in Experiment 2, in which participants were required to detect changes occurring in the melody while ignoring changes occurring in the other voices. Although the musicians in this experiment could be considered only moderately trained (none were professional musicians and average training ϭ 8 years), the current pattern of results is quite consistent with that of Acker and Pastore (1996a), who used only highly trained musician (minimum of 10 years experience). It thus seems likely that increasing the level of musical training, while possibly increasing the overall level of performance, would not lead to any different conclusions.…”

“…Thus, the present experiments tested the generality of previous results by using a set of compositionally distinct stimuli and provided a comparison across level of training. If the null effect of compositional style observed in previous studies (Acker & Pastore, 1996a;Palmer & Holleran, 1994) resulted from a weak manipulation of primitive grouping variables, then, in the present experiment, similar effects of compositional style would be expected for both musicians and nonmusicians. That is, the results would be expected to be consistent with previous studies that have used decidedly nonmusical stimuli (e.g., Botte et al, 1997;Jones et al, 1995).…”

“…Conversely, other studies have indicated that the ability to choose to listen either selectively or integratively ("attentional flexibility") may be constrained by primitive processes (Acker & Pastore, 1996b;Botte, Drake, Brochard, & McAdams, 1997;Jones, Jagacinski, Yee, Floyd, & Klapp, 1995). The apparent discrepancy in results is difficult to resolve because these previous studies have used differing stimuli and either have not compared the abilities of musicians and nonmusicians (e.g., Acker & Pastore, 1996a, 1996bPalmer & Holleran, 1994) or have not compared these two groups in tasks that require the detection of changes in musical structure (Jones et al, 1995).In a set of experiments that were conceptually similar to those in the present study, Jones et al (1995) tested the attentional flexibility of musicians and nonmusicians in a task that required the detection of a temporal irregularity. Jones et al found that musicians, although better able to detect rhythmic changes, did not demonstrate an enhanced flexibility for perceptual organization.…”

“…Specifically, both the homophonic and polyphonic compositions used by Palmer and Holleran (and later by Acker & Pastore, 1996a) contained some asynchrony between voices, with the two compositional styles mainly distinguished by the presence of passing tones in the polyphonic context that produced a secondary melody. Although the addition of tones within one frequency region should have increased horizontal integration in that frequency region, thus promoting a different grouping relative to the homophonic composition, other factors probably worked against finding an effect of compositional style.…”

“…To the extent that schemes can alter the perceptual organization resulting from the primitive processes, task performance should show independence from the primary grouping on the basis of the physical characteristics of the auditory stimuli. Previous studies addressing the effects of musical training on the ability to choose to listen in either an integrative or selective manner have provided conflicting results.Several studies have found that musical training may allow listeners to overcome the effects of stimulus-driven grouping in an integrative listening task (Acker & Pastore, 1996a;Palmer & Holleran, 1994). Conversely, other studies have indicated that the ability to choose to listen either selectively or integratively ("attentional flexibility") may be constrained by primitive processes (Acker & Pastore, 1996b;Botte, Drake, Brochard, & McAdams, 1997;Jones, Jagacinski, Yee, Floyd, & Klapp, 1995).…”