Inadequate pitch-difference sensitivity prevents half of all listeners from discriminating major vs minor tone sequences.
J Acoust Soc Am
; 151(5): 3152, 2022 05.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35649937
ABSTRACT
Substantial evidence suggests that sensitivity to the difference between the major vs minor musical scales may be bimodally distributed. Much of this evidence comes from experiments using the "3-task." On each trial in the 3-task, the listener hears a rapid, random sequence of tones containing equal numbers of notes of either a G major or G minor triad and strives (with feedback) to judge which type of "tone-scramble" it was. This study asks whether the bimodal distribution in 3-task performance is due to variation (across listeners) in sensitivity to differences in pitch. On each trial in a "pitch-difference task," the listener hears two tones and judges whether the second tone is higher or lower than the first. When the first tone is roved (rather than fixed throughout the task), performance varies dramatically across listeners with median threshold approximately equal to a quarter-tone. Strikingly, nearly all listeners with thresholds higher than a quarter-tone performed near chance in the 3-task. Across listeners with thresholds below a quarter-tone, 3-task performance was uniformly distributed from chance to ceiling; thus, the large, lower mode of the distribution in 3-task performance is produced mainly by listeners with roved pitch-difference thresholds greater than a quarter-tone.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Música
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Acoust Soc Am
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos