Annabel J. Cohen

Perception of Structure in Short Melodic Sequences.

Three experiments studied the perception of tone sequences having various degrees of musical structure. Ratings of perceived structure and ease of recognition in transposition were both influenced by harmonic progression (as defined by music theory), the contour (directional changes in pitch), and the excursion or repetition pattern within the sequence. The relation between the original and transposed sequence also affected ease of recognition in accordance with the number of tones shared between the two sequences. The results are described in terms of the abstraction and analysis of levels of pitch relations, an analysis conducted even by musically untrained listeners. The conceptual framework emphasizes the application of musical rules as an illustration of rules governing auditory sequences in general.

Recognition of Transposed Melodic Sequences

Accuracy of recognition for short (three-note) transposed melodic sequences was measured and compared with accuracy predicted by three models of recognition each of which described a different degree of abstraction and synthesis of the musical intervals contained in the sequence. For subjects with musical training, recognition was best described by a model that assumed abstraction and synthesis of the musical intervals between both adjacent and non-adjacent tones of the sequence. For subjects without musical training, recognition was much less accurate but there was some evidence that intervals between adjacent tones were abstracted. Of major theoretical interest, however, was the finding that none of the models provided a comprehensive account of the data. Not merely the size of the intervals contained in a sequence determines accuracy of recognition of the sequence, but also the order or configuration of the intervals. It is suggested that particular interval configurations facilitate the abstraction of tonal structure.

Effects of Musical Soundtracks on Attitudes toward Animated Geometric Figures

We investigated the effects of musical soundtracks on attitudes to figures in a short animated film. In a preliminary study and in the main experiment, subjects saw the film accompanied by one of two soundtracks or with no soundtrack, or they heard one of the two soundtracks alone. In the main experiment, Semantic Differential judgments on Activity and Potency dimensions, obtained for the music, predicted effects of the soundtracks on corresponding ratings of the film as compared to ratings in a no soundtrack condition. As well, ratings on the Activity dimension of the film characters themselves were altered by the soundtracks. It is hypothesized that congruent auditory and visual structure directs the encoding of particular visual features of the film. In addition, associations generated by the music provide a context for the interpretation of the action in the film. As a result, stimulus features and concepts that are initially encoded as disjunctive conjoin in perception and memory.

Development of Tonality Induction: Plasticity, Exposure, and Training

Tonality induction is the natural outcome of acoustic redundancies in music and the predisposition of the brain to represent these redundancies. In the simplest case, tonality induction relies on frequency resolution and a memory accumulator. A review of the literature suggests that these and other more sophisticated building blocks (analysis of complex tones and sensitivity to sequential characteristics of musical patterns) are in place to contribute to tonality induction in the first year of life. As further revealed by life-span studies of preference and recognition for stylistically different popular music excerpts, two other constraints must also be considered: (1) brain plasticity and (2) degree of exposure to music of particular styles. The importance of a final factor, (3) formal music performance training, is shown in studies of (a) the benefits of the major triad frequency ratio relations (4:5:6) on memory (absolute judgment) for tones in an unfamiliar context (b) the applicability of a model based on a key-finding algorithm to pitch memory in a tonal context, and (c) the probe-tone task.

Using the Krumhansl and Schmuckler Key-Finding Algorithm to Quantify the Effects of Tonality in the Interpolated-Tone Pitch-Comparison Task

We examined two models that quantified the effects of tonality on accuracy and reaction time in an intervening-tone pitch-comparison task. In each of 16 task conditions (standard tone-interpolated sequence-test tone, abbreviated as S-seq-T), the S and T tones, C₄ and/or C#₄, were separated by a three-tone sequence that was a random arrangement of one of the four triads, \( {\rm{C}}_{{\rm{4Major}}} ,{\rm{C}}_{{\rm{4Minor}}} ,{\rm{C\# }}_{\rm{4}} _{{\rm{Major}}} \) or \( {\rm{C\# }}_{{\rm{4Minor}}} \) . Both models were based on the tonal hierarchy (Krumhansl, 1990a; Krumhansl & Shepard, 1979) and the key-finding algorithm (Krumhansl & Schmuckler, cited in Krumhansl, 1990a); the key- finding algorithm was used to determine the best-fitting key for the first four notes of the condition (i.e., the S-seq combination). Model 1 (S-Tone Stability) determined the stability of the S tone given that key. Model 2 (T-Tone Expectancy) determined the expectancy for the T tone given that key. Over the 16 conditions, for three groups of 12 subjects, differing by level of training, mean proportion correct discrimination ranged from .53 to .95 and increased significantly across levels of musical experience. For the musically trained subjects, both models predicted performance well but neither model was dramatically more effective than the other; the combination of both models did produce an increase in predictability. For untrained subjects, tonality, as assessed by the key-finding algorithm in either model, was not significantly correlated with performance.

The tritone paradox revisited: Effects of musical training, envelope peak, and response mode

Eighteen musicians and nine nonmusicians judged the direction of tritone intervals between pairs of octave‐complex (Shepard) tones. The tones in each pair had the same spectral envelope centered on either C or F♯ in one of three octaves. Nine of the musicians sang the intervals on one‐half of the trial blocks instead of making the usual up/down judgments. Monte Carlo analysis revealed that 83% of the musicians and 33% of the nonmusicians showed a significant direction bias for regions of the chroma circle. This corroborates the notion of a chroma‐circle template of definite orientation [Deutsch et al., Mus. Perc. 5 (1987)], but suggests that musical training may play a greater role in either its establishment or access. Biases in upward judgments were toward the C‐chroma region, consistent with Deutsch’s [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 88, S139 (1990)] findings for native Californians as opposed to British. With the exception of one musician, envelope peak position had little effect on the results. In gener...

Recognition of transposed tone sequences

Twenty 7‐note standard sequences cross‐classifield on 5 levels of harmony and 2 levels of contour were presented in a, two‐alternative forced choice paradigm to two groups of musicians differing in level of musical training. Comparison sequences were transposed: on one‐half the trials to the dominant (+7 of −5 semits), on the remaining trials to the tritone (± 6 semits). Each incorrect comparison contained one wrong note “out” by 1 semit. Ability to recognize the correctly transposed comparison increased with the simplicity of both harmony and contour of the sequence. In addition, there was a significant interaction of harmonic structure and key of transposition: diatonic sequences were easiest to recognize when transposed to the dominant; but, surprisingly, nondiatonic sequences were recognized best under tritone transposition. As expected, performance increased with past musical training of the listener. The results are interpreted in terms of a theory which considers separately a frequency and sequenti...

Forced‐choice discrimination of complex tones

The study is part of a research program examining the effects of small integer frequency ratio relations on memory for unfamiliar (microtonal) sets of tones. Previous work indicated the benefit of both successive and simultaneous small integer context in an absolute judgment task. In order to determine whether such benefits were cognitive as opposed to sensory in origin, a quasifixed‐standard two‐alternative forced‐choice discrimination task was conducted that had lower demands on memory than the absolute judgment task but could potentially lead to the same context effects. Discrimination of nine complex tones of a microtonal scale ranging from 545 to 636 Hz (tones separated and discriminanda differing by one‐third semitone) was tested under simultaneous and successive context conditions. Preliminary data indicate that musically trained listeners, compared to untrained, showed a small but significant benefit from a dichotic simultaneous bass tone having the ratio 2:3 with one central tone of the nine‐tone...

Music and meaning

College students and preschool children rated dichotomous tone sequences varying in intensity and range on the bipolar adjective scale of sadness/happiness. Both groups assigned the modal response of happy to the high/fast stimulus and the modal response of sad to the low/slow stimulus. In another study, differences in the meaning of two contrasting selections by Prokofieff were indicated by ratings of college students on 12 bipolar adjective scales. The selections, when used as soundtracks for a short animation, led to different bipolar adjective ratings of elements in the film. In a final study, original contrasting soundtracks differing in meaning, as indicated by student ratings, also led to a significant difference in the meaning assigned to the film. Overall these results imply that musical relations give rise to meaning in systematic ways and that such meaning may be acquired as early as the preschool age. Since music can influence the interpretation of nonmusical events, it is suggested that music...