Octave equivalence perception is not linked to vocal mimicry: budgerigars fail standardized operant tests for octave equivalence

Wagner, Bernhard; Mann, Dan C.; Afroozeh, Shahrzad; Staubmann, Gabriel; Hoeschele, Marisa

doi:10.1163/1568539x-00003538

Cited by 18 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The melodies were presented at 75 dB for budgerigars and for humans. All these frequencies are well within budgerigar and human hearing range at the amplitudes used here (see Heffner et al 2016;Okanoya and Dooling 1987) and have been successfully identified by budgerigars in previous operant work (see Dent et al 2000;Dooling et al 1995;Wagner et al 2019;Weisman et al 2004).…”

Section: Stimulisupporting

confidence: 65%

“…These connections may provide one reason, why intervals that are pleasurable to humans appear not to be of heightened interest for budgerigars. Budgerigars are not sexually dimorphic in their vocal ranges (both male and female approximately 1000–5700 Hz; Brittain-Powell et al 2002 ; Farabaugh et al 1998 ) and while they do have highly accurate pitch perception (Weisman et al 2004 ) they do not appear to perceive octave equivalence but rather seem to group tones in a different (but non-random) way (Hoeschele et al 2012 ; Wagner et al 2019 ). While the mechanics and possible pattern of this grouping remain unclear (Hoeschele et al 2013 ; Wagner et al 2019 ), the evidence suggests important differences in the way humans and budgerigars perceive tones that could be directly relevant to understanding potential inter-specific differences in consonance perception.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is consonance attractive to budgerigars? No evidence from a place preference study

2020

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Consonant tone combinations occur naturally in the overtone series of harmonic sounds. These include sounds that many nonhuman animals produce to communicate. As such, non-human animals may be attracted to consonant intervals, interpreting them, e.g., as a feature of important social stimuli. There is preliminary evidence of attraction to consonance in various bird species in the wild, but few experimental studies with birds. We tested budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) for attraction to consonant over dissonant intervals in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we tested humans and budgerigars using a place preference paradigm in which individuals could explore an environment with multiple sound sources. Both species were tested with consonant and dissonant versions of a previously studied piano melody, and we recorded time spent with each stimulus as a measure of attraction. Human females spent more time with consonant than dissonant stimuli in this experiment, but human males spent equal time with both consonant and dissonant stimuli. Neither male nor female budgerigars spent more time with either stimulus type. In Experiment 2, we tested budgerigars with more ecologically relevant stimuli comprised of sampled budgerigar vocalizations arranged into consonant or dissonant chords. These stimuli, however, also failed to produce any evidence of preference in budgerigar responses. We discuss these results in the context of ongoing research on the study of consonance as a potential general feature of auditory perception in animals with harmonic vocalizations, with respect to similarities and differences between human and budgerigar vocal behaviour, and future methodological directions.

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Section: Stimulisupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is consonance attractive to budgerigars? No evidence from a place preference study

2020

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“…However, these results seem to contrast with reported difficulties in songbirds to transfer responses across different octaves. For example, no evidence has been found that chickadees can transfer tone discriminations across octaves (Hoeschele et al 2013), and similar results have been observed with budgerigars (Wagner et al 2019) and European starlings (Cynx 1993). Interestingly, neither rats nor rhesus monkeys are vocal learners, while chickadees, budgerigars and starlings are.…”

Section: Pitchmentioning

confidence: 87%

Detecting surface changes in a familiar tune: exploring pitch, tempo and timbre

2022

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Humans recognize a melody independently of whether it is played on a piano or a violin, faster or slower, or at higher or lower frequencies. Much of the way in which we engage with music relies in our ability to normalize across these surface changes. Despite the uniqueness of our music faculty, there is the possibility that key aspects in music processing emerge from general sensitivities already present in other species. Here we explore whether other animals react to surface changes in a tune. We familiarized the animals (Long–Evans rats) with the “Happy Birthday” tune on a piano. We then presented novel test items that included changes in pitch (higher and lower octave transpositions), tempo (double and half the speed) and timbre (violin and piccolo). While the rats responded differently to the familiar and the novel version of the tune when it was played on novel instruments, they did not respond differently to the original song and its novel versions that included octave transpositions and changes in tempo.

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“…This non-verbal paradigm from Hoeschele et al ( 2012a , b ) is a highly useful tool as it is applicable with different human groups across barriers of language or speech impairment, and even across species (Hoeschele et al, 2013 ; Wagner et al, 2019 ). Yet, while the study provided a reliable and useful paradigm to test for octave equivalence, why it succeeded where others did not is not yet fully clear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pitch chroma information is processed in addition to pitch height information with more than two pitch-range categories

Wagner

Sturdy

Weisman

et al. 2022

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Octave equivalence describes the perception that notes separated by a doubling in frequency sound similar. While the octave is used cross-culturally as a basis of pitch perception, experimental demonstration of the phenomenon has proved to be difficult. In past work, members of our group developed a three-range generalization paradigm that reliably demonstrated octave equivalence. In this study we replicate and expand on this previous work trying to answer three questions that help us understand the origins and potential cross-cultural significance of octave equivalence: (1) whether training with three ranges is strictly necessary or whether an easier-to-learn two-range task would be sufficient, (2) whether the task could demonstrate octave equivalence beyond neighbouring octaves, and (3) whether language skills and musical education impact the use of octave equivalence in this task. We conducted a large-sample study using variations of the original paradigm to answer these questions. Results found here suggest that the three-range discrimination task is indeed vital to demonstrating octave equivalence. In a two-range task, pitch height appears to be dominant over octave equivalence. Octave equivalence has an effect only when pitch height alone is not sufficient. Results also suggest that effects of octave equivalence are strongest between neighbouring octaves, and that tonal language and musical training have a positive effect on learning of discriminations but not on perception of octave equivalence during testing. We discuss these results considering their relevance to future research and to ongoing debates about the basis of octave equivalence perception.

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Octave equivalence perception is not linked to vocal mimicry: budgerigars fail standardized operant tests for octave equivalence

Cited by 18 publications

References 54 publications

Is consonance attractive to budgerigars? No evidence from a place preference study

Is consonance attractive to budgerigars? No evidence from a place preference study

Detecting surface changes in a familiar tune: exploring pitch, tempo and timbre

Pitch chroma information is processed in addition to pitch height information with more than two pitch-range categories

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