scholarly journals Familiar Tonal Context Improves Accuracy of Pitch Interval Perception

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackson E. Graves ◽  
Andrew J. Oxenham
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Interval ◽  
Tonal Context

Cents versus scale steps: Can we tell the difference between major and minor thirds?

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562098727
Author(s):  
Pedro Neto ◽  
Patricia M Vanzella
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Perceptual Quality ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Major Scale ◽  
Accurate Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Scale Step ◽  
Frequency Ratios ◽  
Tonal Context

We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between major and minor thirds. These intervals could either be formed by diatonic tones from the C major scale (tonal condition) or by a subset of tones from the chromatic scale (atonal condition). We hypothesized that in the tonal condition intervals would be perceived as a function of scale step distances, which we defined as the number of diatonic leaps between two notes of a given music scale. In the atonal condition, we hypothesized that intervals would be perceived as a function of cents. If our hypotheses were supported, we should verify a less accurate performance in the tonal condition, where scale step distances are the same between major and minor thirds. The data corroborated our hypotheses, and we suggest that acoustic measurements of intervallic distances (i.e., frequency ratios and cents) are not optimal when it comes to describing the perceptual quality of intervals in a tonal context. Finally, our research points to the possibility that, in comparison with previous models, scale steps and cents might better capture the notion of global versus local instances of auditory processing.

scholarly journals Tonal priming is resistant to changes in pitch height

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Prince ◽  
Dominique T Vuvan ◽  
Mark A. Schmuckler ◽  
Thomas T. Scott-Clark
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Ceiling Effect ◽  
Behavioral Study ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Chord Sequence ◽  
Tonal Context

Research on tonal priming has consistently shown that tonally expected events are processed more efficiently and has confirmed that the locus of the effect is cognitive rather than sensory. However, it is also important to investigate the role of pitch height, because models of tonal priming collapse across octaves, yet it is possible that pitch height may modulate the effectiveness of tonal priming. We systematically tested this issue by varying the pitch heights of a related (tonic) or a less-related (subdominant) target chord following a tonal context. Musically untrained participants (N = 30) made speeded consonant/dissonant judgments of the final chord of an eight-chord sequence. The effects of tonal priming emerged in accuracy and reaction time measures for all octaves, except for a ceiling effect on accuracy in the matching (original pitch height) condition. In a second experiment, we increased the shift to two octaves and compressed the chords to eliminate overlap between the target and context chords; again, tonal priming emerged. These findings have implications for the behavioral study of tonal priming and support the assumption of octave equivalence in computational models.

scholarly journals Task-Based Variability in Children’s Singing Accuracy

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan E. Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Task Type ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pitch Interval ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Singing Accuracy ◽  
Private Lessons ◽  
Test Items ◽  
History Of ◽  
Task Types

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of task demands on children’s singing accuracy. A 2 × 4 factorial design was used to examine the performance of fourth-grade children ( N = 120) in solo and doubled response conditions. Each child sang four task types: single pitch, interval, pattern, and the song “Jingle Bells.” The results indicated that children’s singing accuracy varied by task type, with poorer performance on patterns and songs than on single pitches and intervals. Performance was significantly better for all tasks in the doubled condition than in the solo condition, and a significant interaction indicated task-based performance varied by response mode. Students who indicated some history of private lessons ( n = 54) performed significantly better than those without. Internal reliability using five test items for each type of singing task was satisfactory. Application of the Spearman-Brown formula suggests that a minimum of three items can be included in each task in future research for a reliability coefficient of .75, and four items for a coefficient greater than .80. Performance on these singing tasks was significantly intercorrelated.

Are there specialized mechanisms for pitch interval perception?

2009 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 2523-2523
Author(s):  
Josh H. McDermott ◽  
Michael V. Keebler ◽  
Andrew J. Oxenham
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Interval

Stop Laryngeal Distinctions Driven by Contrastive Effects of Neighboring Tones

2020 ◽  
pp. 002383092092289
Author(s):  
Sang-Im Lee-Kim
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Target Tone ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Linguistic Experience ◽  
Tonal Context

This study examined contrastive effects of neighboring tones that give rise to a systematic asymmetry in stop perception. Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese and naïve listeners labeled voiceless unaspirated stops preceded or followed by low or high extrinsic tonal context (e.g., maLO.pa vs. maHI.pa) either as lenis (associated with a low F0 at the vowel onset) or as fortis stops (with a high F0). Further, the target tone itself varied between level and rising (e.g., maLO.paLEV vs. maLO.paRIS). Both groups of listeners showed significant contrastive effects of extrinsic context. Specifically, more lenis responses were elicited in a high tone context than in a low one, and vice versa. This indicates that the onset F0 of a stop is perceived lower in a high tone context, which, in turn, provides positive evidence for lenis stops. This effect was more clearly pronounced for the level than for the contour tone target and also for the preceding than for the following context irrespective of linguistic experience. Despite qualitative similarities, learners showed larger effects for all F0 variables, indicating that the degree of context effects may be enhanced by one’s phonetic knowledge, namely sensitivity to F0 cues along with the processing of consecutive tones acquired through learning a tone language.

Identification of Mandarin coarticulated tones by inexperienced and experienced English learners of Mandarin

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunjuan He ◽  
Ratree Wayland
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Disyllabic Words ◽  
Tonal Perception ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Tonal Context ◽  
Syllable Position

AbstractTwo groups of native English speakers, relatively inexperienced (N = 14) with 3 months of Mandarin study and relatively more experienced (N = 14) with 12 months of study, were asked to identify coarticulated Mandarin lexical tones in disyllabic words. The results show that 1) the experienced learners were better at identifying Mandarin tones than the inexperienced learners, 2) Tones in coarticulation were more difficult to identify than tones in isolation, 3) tonal context and syllable position affected tonal perception, and 4) experienced learners committed fewer tonal direction errors than inexperienced learners. However, experienced learners still made a considerable amount of tonal height errors.

Place-Pitch Interval Perception With a Cochlear Implant

2020 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Stupak ◽  
Ann E. Todd ◽  
David M. Landsberger
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Pitch Interval ◽  
Place Pitch

scholarly journals Pitch Spelling: A Computational Model

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilios Cambouropoulos
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Success Rate ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Music Notation ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Interval Optimization ◽  
Piano Sonatas ◽  
Pitch Interval ◽  
Interval Representations ◽  
Spelling Strategies

In this article, cognitive and musicological aspects of pitch and pitch interval representations are explored via computational modeling. The specific task under investigation is pitch spelling, that is, how traditional score notation can be derived from a simple unstructured 12-tone representation (e.g., pitch-class set or MIDI pitch representation). This study provides useful insights both into the domain of pitch perception and into musicological aspects of score notation strategies. A computational model is described that transcribes polyphonic MIDI pitch files into the Western traditional music notation. Input to the proposed algorithm is merely a sequence of MIDI pitch numbers in the order they appear in a MIDI file. No a priori knowledge such as key signature, tonal centers, time signature, chords, or voice separation is required. Output of the algorithm is a sequence of "correctly" spelled pitches. The algorithm is based on an interval optimization approach that takes into account the frequency of occurrence of pitch intervals within the major-minor tonal scale framework. The algorithm was evaluated on 10 complete piano sonatas by Mozart and had a success rate of 98.8% (634 pitches were spelled incorrectly out of a total of 54,418 notes); it was tested additionally on three Chopin waltzes and had a slightly worse success rate. The proposed pitch interval optimization approach is also compared with and tested against other pitch-spelling strategies.

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