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

Tone Language Fluency Impairs Pitch Discrimination

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00145 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Isabelle Peretz ◽

Sébastien Nguyen ◽

Stéphanie Cummings

Keyword(s):

Pitch Discrimination ◽

Language Fluency ◽

Tone Language

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Pitch discrimination performance of ferrets and humans on a go/no-go task

10.1101/165852 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Kerry MM Walker ◽

Amelia Davies ◽

Jennifer K Bizley ◽

Jan WH Schnupp ◽

Andrew J King

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Performance ◽

Forced Choice ◽

Pitch Discrimination ◽

List Type ◽

Human Species ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Pitch Processing ◽

Pitch Change ◽

2Afc Task ◽

Neurophysiological Basis

ABSTRACTAnimal models are widely used to examine the neurophysiological basis of human pitch perception, and it is therefore important to understand the similarities and differences in pitch processing across species. Pitch discrimination performance is usually measured using two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) procedures in humans and go/no-go tasks in animals, potentially confounding human-to-animal comparisons. We have previously shown that pitch discrimination thresholds of ferrets on a 2AFC task are markedly poorer than those reported for go/no-go tasks in other non-human species (Walker et al., 2009). To better compare the pitch discrimination performance of ferret with other species, here we measure pitch change detection thresholds of ferrets and humans on a common, appetitive go/no-go task design. We found that ferrets’ pitch thresholds were ~10 times larger than that of humans on the go/no-go task, and were within the range of thresholds reported in other non-human species. Interestingly, ferrets’ thresholds were 100 times larger than human thresholds on a 2AFC pitch discrimination task using the same stimuli. These results emphasize that sensory discrimination thresholds can differ across tasks, particularly for non-human animals. Performance on our go/no-go task is likely to reflect different neurobiological processes than that on our 2AFC task, as the former required the subjects only to detect a pitch change while the latter required them to label the direction of the pitch change.ABBREVIATIONS2AFC2-Alternative Forced ChoiceF0Fundamental FrequencyHIGHLIGHTSPitch discrimination thresholds of ferrets were 10 times larger than those of humans on a go/no-go taskFerrets’ pitch thresholds are similar to those reported for a range of other mammalsPitch thresholds of ferrets, but not humans, were drastically better on the go/no-go task than a 2AFC task using the same stimuli

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Neural Discrimination of Nonprototypical Chords in Music Experts and Laymen: An MEG Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2008.21144 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (11) ◽

pp. 2230-2244 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

Elvira Brattico ◽

Karen Johanne Pallesen ◽

Olga Varyagina ◽

Christopher Bailey ◽

Irina Anourova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Auditory Cortex ◽

Auditory System ◽

Musical Training ◽

The Other ◽

Pitch Discrimination ◽

Tonal Music ◽

Pitch Change ◽

Musical Pitch ◽

Minor Chord ◽

A Minor

At the level of the auditory cortex, musicians discriminate pitch changes more accurately than nonmusicians. However, it is not agreed upon how sound familiarity and musical expertise interact in the formation of pitch-change discrimination skills, that is, whether musicians possess musical pitch discrimination abilities that are generally more accurate than in nonmusicians or, alternatively, whether they may be distinguished from nonmusicians particularly with respect to the discrimination of nonprototypical sounds that do not play a reference role in Western tonal music. To resolve this, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure the change-related magnetic mismatch response (MMNm) in musicians and nonmusicians to two nonprototypical chords, a “dissonant” chord containing a highly unpleasant interval and a “mistuned” chord including a mistuned pitch, and a minor chord, all inserted in a context of major chords. Major and minor are the most frequently used chords in Western tonal music which both musicians and nonmusicians are most familiar with, whereas the other chords are more rarely encountered in tonal music. The MMNm was stronger in musicians than in nonmusicians in response to the dissonant and mistuned chords, whereas no group difference was found in the MMNm strength to minor chords. Correspondingly, the length of musical training correlated with the MMNm strength for the dissonant and mistuned chords only. Our findings provide evidence for superior automatic discrimination of nonprototypical chords in musicians. Most likely, this results from a highly sophisticated auditory system in musicians allowing a more efficient discrimination of chords deviating from the conventional categories of tonal music.

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On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 487-498

Author(s):

Puisan Wong ◽

Man Wai Cheng

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Auditory Sensitivity ◽

Pitch Discrimination ◽

Lexical Tone ◽

Perceptual Training ◽

Lexical Tones ◽

Tone Perception ◽

Tone Discrimination

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.

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