Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence
© 2017 The Author(s). Pitch conveys critical information in speech, music and other natural sounds, and is conventionally defined as the perceptual correlate of a sound's fundamental frequency (F0). Although pitch is widely assumed to be subserved by a single F0 estimation process, real-world p...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134879 |
| _version_ | 1811091701992783872 |
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| author | McPherson, Malinda J McDermott, Josh H |
| author_facet | McPherson, Malinda J McDermott, Josh H |
| author_sort | McPherson, Malinda J |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2017 The Author(s). Pitch conveys critical information in speech, music and other natural sounds, and is conventionally defined as the perceptual correlate of a sound's fundamental frequency (F0). Although pitch is widely assumed to be subserved by a single F0 estimation process, real-world pitch tasks vary enormously, raising the possibility of underlying mechanistic diversity. To probe pitch mechanisms, we conducted a battery of pitch-related music and speech tasks using conventional harmonic sounds and inharmonic sounds whose frequencies lack a common F0. Some pitch-related abilities - those relying on musical interval or voice recognition - were strongly impaired by inharmonicity, suggesting a reliance on F0. However, other tasks, including those dependent on pitch contours in speech and music, were unaffected by inharmonicity, suggesting a mechanism that tracks the frequency spectrum rather than the F0. The results suggest that pitch perception is mediated by several different mechanisms, only some of which conform to traditional notions of pitch. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:06:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/134879 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:06:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1348792022-04-01T14:44:59Z Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence McPherson, Malinda J McDermott, Josh H © 2017 The Author(s). Pitch conveys critical information in speech, music and other natural sounds, and is conventionally defined as the perceptual correlate of a sound's fundamental frequency (F0). Although pitch is widely assumed to be subserved by a single F0 estimation process, real-world pitch tasks vary enormously, raising the possibility of underlying mechanistic diversity. To probe pitch mechanisms, we conducted a battery of pitch-related music and speech tasks using conventional harmonic sounds and inharmonic sounds whose frequencies lack a common F0. Some pitch-related abilities - those relying on musical interval or voice recognition - were strongly impaired by inharmonicity, suggesting a reliance on F0. However, other tasks, including those dependent on pitch contours in speech and music, were unaffected by inharmonicity, suggesting a mechanism that tracks the frequency spectrum rather than the F0. The results suggest that pitch perception is mediated by several different mechanisms, only some of which conform to traditional notions of pitch. 2021-10-27T20:09:37Z 2021-10-27T20:09:37Z 2018 2019-10-02T18:25:29Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134879 en 10.1038/S41562-017-0261-8 Nature Human Behaviour Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Springer Nature PMC |
| spellingShingle | McPherson, Malinda J McDermott, Josh H Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title | Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title_full | Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title_fullStr | Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title_short | Diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| title_sort | diversity in pitch perception revealed by task dependence |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134879 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mcphersonmalindaj diversityinpitchperceptionrevealedbytaskdependence AT mcdermottjoshh diversityinpitchperceptionrevealedbytaskdependence |