scholarly journals IS ABSOLUTE PITCH A SPECIAL ABILITY OR SOMETHING WE ALL HAVE? A REVIEW BASED ON GENETIC, NEUROSCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FINDINGS

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Luca Kiss
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Brain Areas

Absolute pitch (AP), the ability to identify and produce musical pitches without a reference point, is extremely rare and is considered to be a special ability.  Although research has focused on this topic for decades, there is no consensus about why AP only occurs in 1 out of 10.000 individuals and how it is acquired.  Therefore, the present article aims to review and reconcile the previous findings in order to understand the potential contribution of training and genetics in AP acquisition.  Based on experimental psychological and genetic findings, it is concluded that although some components of AP are implicit and exist in the general population, both early musical training and genetic factors are crucial for AP development.  This conclusion is supported by neuroscientific findings that provide evidence for differences in activations in specific brain areas between AP possessors and non-possessors.

scholarly journals Genetic susceptibility to radiation-induced breast cancer after Hodgkin lymphoma

Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 133 (10) ◽  
pp. 1130-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemieke W. J. Opstal-van Winden ◽  
Hugoline G. de Haan ◽  
Michael Hauptmann ◽  
Marjanka K. Schmidt ◽  
Annegien Broeks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Breast Cancer Risk ◽  
General Population ◽  
Cancer Risk ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Hodgkin Lymphoma ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Control Analysis ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract Female Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients treated with chest radiotherapy (RT) have a very high risk of breast cancer. The contribution of genetic factors to this risk is unclear. We therefore examined 211 155 germline single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for gene-radiation interaction on breast cancer risk in a case-only analysis including 327 breast cancer patients after chest RT for HL and 4671 first primary breast cancer patients. Nine SNPs showed statistically significant interaction with RT on breast cancer risk (false discovery rate, <20%), of which 1 SNP in the PVT1 oncogene attained the Bonferroni threshold for statistical significance. A polygenic risk score (PRS) composed of these SNPs (RT-interaction-PRS) and a previously published breast cancer PRS (BC-PRS) derived in the general population were evaluated in a case-control analysis comprising the 327 chest-irradiated HL patients with breast cancer and 491 chest-irradiated HL patients without breast cancer. Patients in the highest tertile of the RT-interaction-PRS had a 1.6-fold higher breast cancer risk than those in the lowest tertile. Remarkably, we observed a fourfold increased RT-induced breast cancer risk in the highest compared with the lowest decile of the BC-PRS. On a continuous scale, breast cancer risk increased 1.4-fold per standard deviation of the BC-PRS, similar to the effect size found in the general population. This study demonstrates that genetic factors influence breast cancer risk after chest RT for HL. Given the high absolute breast cancer risk in radiation-exposed women, these results can have important implications for the management of current HL survivors and future patients.

scholarly journals PITCH MEMORY AND EXPOSURE EFFECTS: Statistical learning and the effects of implicit "absolute pitch" on the perception and evaluation of music

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Shay Ben-Haim ◽  
Zohar Eitan ◽  
Eran Chajut
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Auditory Cognition ◽  
Musical Cognition ◽  
Pitch Frequency

Recent studies indicate that the ability to represent absolute pitch values in long-term memory (LTM), long believed to be the possession of a small minority of trained musicians endowed with "absolute pitch" (AP), is in fact shared to some extent by a considerable proportion of the population. The current study examined whether this newly discovered ability affects aspects of music and auditory cognition, particularly pitch learning and evaluation. Our starting points are two well established premises: (1) frequency of occurrence has an influence on the way we process stimuli; (2) in Western music, some pitches and musical keys are much more frequent than others. Based on these premises, we hypothesize that if absolute pitch values are indeed represented in LTM, pitch frequency of occurrence in music would significantly affect cognitive processes, in particular pitch learning and evaluation. Two experiments were designed to test this hypothesis in participants with no AP, most with little or no musical training. Experiment 1 demonstrated a faster response and a learning advantage for frequent pitches over infrequent pitches in an identification task. In Experiment 2 participants evaluated infrequent pitches as more pleasing than frequent pitches when presented in isolation. These results suggest that absolute pitch representation in memory may play a substantial, hitherto unacknowledged role in auditory (and specifically musical) cognition.

The effects of timbre on absolute pitch judgment

2020 ◽  
pp. 030573561989343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaonuo Li
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Tonal Music ◽  
Test Study ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Very High

This article reports the high prevalence of Absolute Pitch (AP) among students at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and explores the effects of timbre on AP judgment through a large-scale direct-test study. This study used two types of timbres (piano timbre and string timbre) to explore the correlation between the different types of timbre and note-naming accuracy. The participants included 71 undergraduate students majoring in piano and string at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who had begun musical training at an age ⩽ 9 and focused on Western tonal music. The main results showed that the overall performance levels were very high and that the students scored 73% correct without semitone errors and 80% with semitone errors. All groups exhibited higher performance in judging pitches in piano timbre than string timbre. In addition, after listening to piano timbre, the accuracy in judging pitches in string timbre was significantly increased, and after listening to string timbre, the accuracy in judging pitches in piano timbre decreased but not significantly.

Music and brain plasticity

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARBRO B. JOHANSSON
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Developing Brain ◽  
Previous Exposure ◽  
Emotional Involvement ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
And Training ◽  
Little Finger

Complex and widespread activation in many brain areas is seen while performing, listening or mentally imaging music, activity that varies with training, previous exposure, personal preference, emotional involvement and many other factors. Playing a musical instrument demands extensive motor and cognitive abilities, and early musical learning results in plastic reorganization of the developing brain – one example being the increased cortical representation area for the left little finger in (right-handed) string-players, which correlates with age at the start of training. Even though the developing brain has the most pronounced changes, the adult healthy brain has a considerable plasticity. Conductors have superior spatial tuning compared with non-musicians and pianists. Attentive listening to music for as little as three hours can temporarily alter the auditory cortex. Interactions between genetic predisposition, environment and training play a role in music as in other areas. It has been proposed that musical training may improve other cognitive functions. There is some evidence that this may be the case but it is an area that needs further exploration.

Absolute pitch learning in adults speaking non-tonal languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 1908-1920
Author(s):  
Yetta Kwailing Wong ◽  
Vince SH Ngan ◽  
Leo YT Cheung ◽  
Alan C-N Wong
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
External Reference ◽  
Small Pitch ◽  
Early Childhood Experience ◽  
Language Exposure

Absolute pitch (AP) refers to labelling individual pitches in the absence of external reference. A widely endorsed theory regards AP as a privileged ability enjoyed by selected few with rare genetic makeup and musical training starting in early childhood. However, recent evidence showed that even adults can learn AP, and some can attain a performance level comparable to natural AP possessors. These training studies involved native tonal language speakers, whose acquisition of AP might be facilitated by tonal language exposure during early childhood. In this study, adults speaking non-tonal languages went through AP training that was 20-hr long, computerised and personalised. Performance on average improved, which was accompanied by enhanced working memory for tones, whereas relative pitch judgement and sensitivity to small pitch differences remained unchanged. Notably, two out of 13 learned to label all 12 pitches within an octave, with accuracy and response time comparable to natural AP possessors. Overall, the findings suggest that tonal language exposure is not a prerequisite for AP learning in adulthood. The understanding of the origin of AP would benefit from considering the role of lifelong learning instead of focusing only on early childhood experience.

The Tritone Paradox: Its Presence and Form of Distribution in a General Population

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Deutsch ◽  
William L. Kuyper ◽  
Yuval Fisher
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Significant Extent ◽  
Orderly Fashion ◽  
Tritone Paradox

The tritone paradox occurs when an ordered pair of tones is presented, with each tone consisting of a set of octave-related components, and the pitch classes of the tones separated by a half-octave. Such a pattern is heard as ascending in one key, but as descending in a different key. Further, the pattern in any one key is heard as ascending by some listeners but as descending by others. It was here found that this phenomenon occurs to a highly significant extent in a general population, and that it is distributed within the population in an orderly fashion. The findings also reveal a surprising ability within the general population to utilize absolute pitch.

Effects of musical training and absolute pitch ability on event‐related activity in response to sine tones

1992 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 3527-3531 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Wayman ◽  
Robert D. Frisina ◽  
Joseph P. Walton ◽  
Edwin C. Hantz ◽  
Garry C. Crummer
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Related Activity

scholarly journals A brain motivated to play: insights into the neurobiology of playfulness

Behaviour ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 819-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Siviy
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Normal Development ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Neurobiological Substrates ◽  
Behavioural Strategies

Play is an important part of normal childhood development and is seen in varied forms among many mammals. While not indispensable to normal development, playful social experiences as juveniles may provide an opportunity to develop flexible behavioural strategies when novel and uncertain situations arise as an adult. To understand the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for play and how the functions of play may relate to these neural substrates, the rat has become the model of choice. Play in the rat is easily quantified, tightly regulated, and can be modulated by genetic factors and postnatal experiences. Brain areas most likely to be involved in the modulation of play include regions within the prefrontal cortex, dorsal and ventral striatum, some regions of the amygdala, and habenula. This paper discusses what we currently know about the neurobiological substrates of play and how this can help illuminate functional questions about the putative benefits of play.

scholarly journals Characterization of Two Major Genetic Factors Controlling Quantitative Resistance to Melampsora larici-populina Leaf Rust in Hybrid Poplars: Strain Specificity, Field Expression, Combined Effects, and Relationship with a Defeated Qualitative Resistance Gene

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (12) ◽  
pp. 1358-1367 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Dowkiw ◽  
C. Bastien
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Rust ◽  
Resistance Gene ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Quantitative Resistance ◽  
Durable Resistance ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Infected Leaf ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Qualitative Resistance

Two genetic factors explain a significant proportion of the variability for quantitative resistance to Melampsora larici-populina leaf rust in a Populus deltoides × P. trichocarpa F1 progeny. One is inherited from P. deltoides and is associated with a defeated qualitative resistance gene R1, and the other, RUS, is inherited from P. trichocarpa. To assess the potential contribution of these two factors for durable resistance breeding, 284 genotypes from this F1 progeny were studied in laboratory experiments with three M. larici-populina strains and in a field experiment under natural inoculum pressure. Results confirmed that both factors can have strong beneficial effects in the laboratory. These effects were strain specific, thus impairing their chances for durability. However, association of both factors led to synergistic effects in most situations. In accordance with good field-laboratory relationships, especially those involving uredinia-size laboratory measurements, field effects of both resistance factors were significant. RUS led to a significant reduction of rust colonization on the most infected leaf in the field, and its effect was significant both in the presence and the absence of R1. In contrast, the presence of R1 was useful in the field only when RUS was absent. The nature of the genetic relationship between both factors remains unknown, but benefits from their association should be quantified over a longer period to evaluate potential adaptation of the pathogen.

scholarly journals Mapping the genetics of neuropsychological traits to the molecular network of the human brain using a data integrative approach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afsheen Yousaf ◽  
Eftichia Duketis ◽  
Tomas Jarczok ◽  
Michael Sachse ◽  
Monica Biscaldi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Phenotypic Trait ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Transcriptome Data ◽  
Brain Areas

AbstractMotivationComplex neuropsychiatric conditions including autism spectrum disorders are among the most heritable neurodevelopmental disorders with distinct profiles of neuropsychological traits. A variety of genetic factors modulate these traits (phenotypes) underlying clinical diagnoses. To explore the associations between genetic factors and phenotypes, genome-wide association studies are broadly applied. Stringent quality checks and thorough downstream analyses for in-depth interpretation of the associations are an indispensable prerequisite. However, in the area of neuropsychology there is no framework existing, which besides performing association studies also affiliates genetic variants at the brain and gene network level within a single framework.ResultsWe present a novel bioinformatics approach in the field of neuropsychology that integrates current state-of-the-art tools, algorithms and brain transcriptome data to elaborate the association of phenotype and genotype data. The integration of transcriptome data gives an advantage over the existing pipelines by directly translating genetic associations to brain regions and developmental patterns. Based on our data integrative approach, we identify genetic variants associated with Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in an autism cohort and found their respective genes to be expressed in specific brain areas.ConclusionOur data integrative approach revealed that IQ is related to early down-regulated and late up-regulated gene modules implicated in frontal cortex and striatum, respectively. Besides identifying new gene associations with IQ we also provide a proof of concept, as several of the identified genes in our analysis are candidate genes related to intelligence in autism, intellectual disability, and Alzheimer’s disease. The framework provides a complete extensive analysis starting from a phenotypic trait data to its association at specific brain areas at vulnerable time points within a timespan of four days.Availability and ImplementationOur framework is implemented in R and Python. It is available as an in-house script, which can be provided on [email protected]

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