scholarly journals Perceiving Music Through the Lens of Synaesthesia and Absolute Pitch

Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 030100662110344
Author(s):  
Solange Glasser
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Potential Relationship ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Music Literature ◽  
Behavioural Evidence

Synaesthesia and absolute pitch (AP) are two rare conditions that occur more frequently within populations of artistic professionals. Current thinking surrounding synaesthesia and AP and their relationship to music perception form the focus of this article. Given that synaesthesia has rarely been discussed in the music literature, the article surveys and consolidates general neurobiological, psychological, and behavioural evidence to summarise what is currently known on this topic, in order to link this back to the conditions that most relate to music. In contrast, research on AP is now well established in the music literature, but the important gap of linking AP to other conditions such as synaesthesia has yet to be fully explored. This article investigates the potential relationship between synaesthesia and AP for musicians who possess both conditions by systematically comparing the definitions, classifications, prevalence, diagnoses, and impacts on music perception of synaesthesia and AP and provides insights into the varying states of the literature and knowledge of both conditions. In so doing, this article aims to facilitate a greater understanding of music and auditory forms of synaesthesia and their interaction with AP and encourage increased research effort on this important topic.

scholarly journals International significance of Australian research on beef quality - a view from the periphery

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Devine
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Beef Quality ◽  
Beef Industry ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Australian Climate ◽  
The World ◽  
Production Practices

Australia produces agricultural products, including meat, as major items for export as well as being consumed locally. It is no accident that Australia is one of the major exporters of meat to distant markets and the success is predicated on adapting animal production practices and processing to produce a highly desirable product that is safe to eat. Research plays a large part in this strategy, but one would have to say that for some time the view that ‘a prophet hath no honour in his own country’ has predominated. The Cattle and Beef CRC is designed to improve the profitability of the Australian beef industry by bringing in partners, some of whom were prominent in previous research endeavours to coordinate a research effort in order to benefit the whole industry — it is a unique and effective approach. It has taken some time to demonstrate that a ‘nice’ looking animal is not a predictor of meat quality — rather it needs to be processed correctly in order for it to meet the most critical consumer requirements. The researchers in Australia have in fact been the world leaders in advocating procedures such as electrical stimulation that have been taken up by the industry. There are still areas where the research results from Australia differ from that in other countries. CRC-based research in Australia in controlled studies using large numbers of animals with a wide genetic base, has shown that both cattle with a significant component from tropical genotypes and non-tropical genotypes, processed correctly, produce highly acceptable meat. To get further improvements, we merely need to identify the causes of outliers and this should not be difficult. This concept is of course important in the context of the relatively dry Australian climate that results in different problems from other countries. One important outcome of the CRC has been to show that sectors of the industry need to work together to use research and, if necessary, challenge current thinking imposed from outside. In other words, Australians should believe in themselves.

On the Nature of Early Music Training and Absolute Pitch: A Reply to Brown, Sachs, Cammuso, and Folstein

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL J. LEVITIN ◽  
ROBERT J. ZATORRE
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Statistical Nature ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Music Training

We discuss two issues raised in the article about the acquisition of absolute pitch published in Music Perception by W. A. Brown, H. Sachs, K. Cammuso, and S. E. Folstein (2002) with which we disagree. First, we describe that aspect of musical training we feel is relevant for the acquisition of absolute pitch. Second, we point out a disagreement about the statistical nature of developmental stages and critical periods. We describe an alternative view of absolute pitch acquisition.

Toward a Comparative Psychology of Music Perception

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart H. Hulse ◽  
Suzanne C. Page
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
European Starling ◽  
Musical Structure ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
New Information ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Psychology Of Music ◽  
Nonhuman Species

Musicians and ethnomusicologists have long been interested in the idea of musical universals, the proposition that features of musical structure are common to the music of all human cultures. Recently, the development of new techniques and new theory makes it possible to ask whether the perceptual principles underlying music span not just human cultures but also other nonhuman species. A series of experiments addressing this issue from a comparative perspective show that a songbird, the European starling, can perceive pitch relations, a form of musical universal. However, the species transposes pitch relations across large shifts in tone height with difficulty. Instead, songbirds show a preference for learning pitch patterns on the basis of the absolute pitch of component tones. These results suggest further comparative studies of music perception may be especially worthwhile, not just for gathering new information about animals, but also for highlighting the principles that make human music perception unique.

Song imitation in congenital amusia: Performance partially facilitated by melody familiarity but not by phonetic content

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadne Loutrari ◽  
Cunmei Jiang ◽  
Fang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Matching Accuracy ◽  
Pitch Interval ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Vocal Imitation ◽  
Pitch Deviation

Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of pitch perception that may also compromise pitch production. We explored whether vocal imitation of song in amusia is influenced by melody familiarity and phonetic content. Thirteen Mandarin-speaking amusics and 13 matched controls imitated novel song segments with lyrics and on the syllable /la/ while their output was recorded. Eleven out of these participants in each group also imitated segments of a familiar song. Subsequent acoustic analysis was conducted to measure pitch and timing matching accuracy. While amusics’ performance was facilitated by melody familiarity in terms of pitch interval deviation, signed interval deviation and number of contour errors, they showed compromised performance compared to controls in absolute pitch deviation, number of pitch interval errors, duration difference, interonset interval difference, and number of time errors in both familiar and novel song conditions. The presence of lyrics did not affect either group’s performance substantially. While a stronger relationship between music perception and novel melody imitation was observed in amusics as opposed to familiar melody imitation, controls showed the opposite pattern. We discuss the implications of the study in terms of music familiarity, memory demands, the relevance of lexical information and the link between perception and production.

Absolute-Pitch Judgments of Black and White-Key Pitches

1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie H. Takeuchi ◽  
Stewart H. Hulse
Keyword(s):  
Response Bias ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Choice Response ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Retrieval Processes ◽  
Music Literature ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Response Biases

Absolute-pitch possessors have been reported to identify black-key pitches less quickly and accurately than they identify white-key pitches. However, it is possible in these experiments that the greater speed of identifying white-compared with black-key pitches was due to a motor response bias because the motor requirements for indicating a black-key pitch were more difficult than those for indicating a white-key pitch. The greater accuracy in identifying white-compared with black-key pitches may have been due to a choice response bias favoring white-key pitch responses. We compared absolute- pitch judgments of black-and white-key pitches in a task free of motor response biases. Subjects compared the pitch of an auditory tone with a visually presented pitch name and responded Same or Different. The absolute- pitch possessors responded significantly more slowly to black- key auditory pitches, and to black- key visual pitch names, than to white-key pitches and pitch names. These differences may have been due to perceptual and retrieval processes associated with the frequencies with which black-and white-key pitches and pitch names occur in music literature. Another possible explanation is that absolute-pitch possessors may learn absolute pitch for only white-key pitches in development and may interpolate blackkey pitches from neighboring white-key pitches. Experiments to test these alternative accounts are proposed.

Ruthenium red and alcian blue effects on outer structures of methanotrophic bacteria

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 72-73
Author(s):  
T.A. Fassel ◽  
M.J. Schaller ◽  
C.C. Remsen
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Ruthenium Red ◽  
Outer Cell ◽  
Methanotrophic Bacteria ◽  
En Bloc ◽  
Methylosinus Trichosporium ◽  
Wall Structures ◽  
Methylomonas Albus ◽  
Type Strains ◽  
Outer Cell Wall

Methane, a contributor to the “greenhouse effect”, is oxidized in the natural environment by methanotrophic bacteria. As part of a comprehensive research effort, we have been examining the ultrastructure of methanotrophs. These microorganisms have complex outer cell wall structures similar to those frequently found in other chemol itho- trophic bacteria. (1,2)In our work, we have focused on the “type” strains of Methylomonas albus BG8 and Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b. Between Spurr and LR White embedding resins, we found a difference 1n the preservation of an outer cup layer of BG8 external to the peripheral membranes. Cells from the same sample embedded in Spurr consistently lacked this feature (FIG. 1). This effect was overcome by an en bloc ruthenium red (RR) protocol that resulted in successful retention of the cup layer in Spurr resin (FIG. 2). For OB3b cells, the en bloc RR protocol resulted in an exterior bead feature distinguishable in thin section (FIG. 4) that previously was seen only by SEM.

A Unique Asymmetrical Stroop Effect in Absolute Pitch Possessors

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 272-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilach Akiva-Kabiri ◽  
Avishai Henik
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Stroop Effect ◽  
Congruency Effect ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Color Naming ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Reverse Pattern

The Stroop task has been employed to study automaticity or failures of selective attention for many years. The effect is known to be asymmetrical, with words affecting color naming but not vice versa. In the current work two auditory-visual Stroop-like tasks were devised in order to study the automaticity of pitch processing in both absolute pitch (AP) possessors and musically trained controls without AP (nAP). In the tone naming task, participants were asked to name the auditory tone while ignoring a visual note name. In the note naming task, participants were asked to read a note name while ignoring the auditory tone. The nAP group showed a significant congruency effect only in the tone naming task, whereas AP possessors showed the reverse pattern, with a significant congruency effect only in the note reading task. Thus, AP possessors were unable to ignore the auditory tone when asked to read the note, but were unaffected by the verbal note name when asked to label the auditory tone. The results suggest that pitch identification in participants endowed with AP ability is automatic and impossible to suppress.

Current Thinking About the Later Portion of the Life Course

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-148
Author(s):  
Marion Perlmutter
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
The Life Course
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