Abstract
Pitch can be conceptualized as a bidimensional quantity, reflecting both the overall pitch level of a tone (tone height) and its position in the octave (tone chroma). Though such a conceptualization has been well supported for perception of a single tone, it has been argued that the dimension of tone chroma is irrelevant in melodic perception. In the current study, melodies were subjected to structural transformations designed to evaluate the effects of interval magnitude, contour, tone height, and tone chroma. In two transformations, the component tones of a melody were displaced by octave intervals, either preserving or violating the pattern of changes in pitch direction (melodic contour). Replicating previous work, when contour was violated perception of the melody was severely disrupted. In contrast, when contour was preserved the melodies were identified as accurately as the untransformed melodies. In other transformations, a variety of forms of contour information were preserved, while eliminating information for absolute pitch and interval magnitude. The level of performance on all such transformations fell between the levels observed in the other two conditions. These results suggest that the bidimensional model of pitch is applicable to recognition of melodies as well as single tones. Moreover, the results argue that contour, as well as interval magnitude, is providing essential information for melodic perception.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References Notes
Deutsch, D.Octave equivalence and the processing of melodic sequences. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, 1976.
Balzano, G. J.On the bases of similarity of musical intervals: A chronometric analysis. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1977.
References
Allen, D. Octave discriminability of musical and non-musical subjects.Psychonomic Science, 1967,7, 412–422.
Attneave, F., &Olson, R. K. Pitch as a medium: A new approach to psychophysical scaling.American Journal of Psychology, 1971,84, 147–166.
Bachem, A. Note on Neu’s review of the literature on absolute pitch.Psychological Review, 1948,45, 161–162.
Bachem, A. Time factors in relative and absolute pitch determination.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1954,26, 751–753.
Baird, J. W. Memory for absolute pitch: Studies in psychology, InTitchner commemorative volume. Worchester, Mass; L. N. Wilson, 1971.
Blackwell, H. R., &Schlosberg, H. Octave generalization, pitch discrimination, and loudness thresholds in the white rat.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1943,33, 407–419.
Bregman, A.S., &Campbell, J. Primary auditory stream segregation, perception of order m rapid sequences of tones.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1971,89, 244–249.
David, H.T., &Mendel, D.A Bach reader. New York: Norton Books, 1966.
Deutsch, D. Music recognition.Psychological Review, 1969,76, 300–307.
Deutsch, D. Tones and numbers: Specificity of interference in short-term memory.Science, 1970,168, 1604–1605.
Deutsch, D. Effect of repetition of standard and comparison tones in recognition memory for pitch.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1972,93, 156–162. (a)
Deutsch, D. Octave generalization and tune recognition.Perception & Psychophysics, 1972,11, 411–412. (b)
Deutsch, D. Octave generalization of specific interference effects in memory for tonal pitch.Perception & Psychophysics, 1973,13, 271–275. (a)
Deutsch, D. Interference in memory between tones adjacent in the musical scale.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1973,100, 228–231. (b)
Deutsch, D. Generality of interference by tonal stimuli in recognition memory for pitch.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974,26, 229–234.
Dowling, W. J. Recognition of melodic transformations: Inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion.Perception & Psychophysics, 1972,12, 417–421.
Dowling, W. J. The perception of interleaved melodies.Cognitive Psychology, 1973,5, 322–337.
Dowling, W. J., &Fujitani, D. A. Contour, interval, and pitch recognition in memory for melodies.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1971,49, 524–531.
Dowling, W. J., &Hollombe, A. W. The perception of melodies distorted by splitting into several octaves: Effects of increasing proximity and melodic contour.Perception & Psychophysics, 1977,21, 60–64.
Heise, G. A., &Miller, G. A. An experimental study of auditory patterns.American Journal of Psychology, 1951,64, 68–77.
House.W.J. Octave generalization and the identification of distorted melodies.Perception & Psychophysics, 1977,21, 586–589.
Hubel, D.H., &Wiesel, T.N. Receptive fields, binocular interaction, and functional architecture in the cat’s visual cortex.Journal of Physiology, 1962,160, 106–154.
Humphreys, L. G. Generalization as a function of method of reinforcement.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1939,25, 361–372.
Idson, W. L.The perception of structure in auditory patterns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1977.
Idsos, W.L., &Massaro, D.W. Cross-octave masking of single tones and musical sequences: The effects of structure on auditory recognition.Perception & Psychophysics, 1976,19, 155–175.
Koffka, K.Principles of Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1935.
Meyer, M. On the attributes of the sensations.Psychological Review, 1904,11, 83–103.
Miller, G. A., &Heise, G.A. The trill threshold.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1950,64, 637–638.
Nettle, B.Music in primitive culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1956.
Ortmann, D. On the melodic relativity of tones.Psychological Monographs, 1926,35, (Whole Number 165).
Piston, W.Counterpoint. New York: Norton, 1947.
Révész, G.An introduction to the psychology of music. Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1954.
Robinson, D. W., &Dadson, R. S. A re-determination of the equal loudness relations for pure tones.British Journal Applied Physics, 1956,7, 166–181.
Ruckmick, C. A. A new classification of tonal qualities.Psychological Review, 1929,36, 172–180.
Shepard, R.N. Circularity of judgments of relative pitch.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1964,36, 2346–2353.
Stevens, S.S., &Volkmann, J. The relation of pitch to frequency.American Journal of Psychology, 1940,53, 329–353.
Stevens, S. S., Volkmann, J., &Newmann, E. G. A scale for the measurement of the psychological magnitude of pitch.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1937,8, 185–190.
Tovey, D. F.The forms of music. New York: World Publishing, 1956.
van Noorden, L. P. A. S.Temporal coherence in the perception of tone sequences. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Institute for Perception Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 1975.
Ward, W. D. Musical perception. In J. V. Tobias (Ed.),Foundations of modern auditory theory (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press, 1970.
White, B. Recognition of distorted melodies.American Journal & Psychology, 1960,73, 100–107.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant MH-19399 to D. W. Massaro, and was conducted while W. L. Idson was supported first by a University of Wisconsin Graduate Traineeship and later by a University of Wisconsin Graduate Fellowship. The work represents a collaborative effort; order of authorship is arbitrary.
Portions of this work were discussed at the Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego, 1976, and at the Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, 1977.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Idson, W.L., Massaro, D.W. A bidimensional model of pitch in the recognition of melodies. Perception & Psychophysics 24, 551–565 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198783
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198783