Octave Illusion Review

[Chris Chambers <c.chambers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear List, 

I would like to announce an in-press article on the octave illusion,
which will appear in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (see abstract
below). 

The article is a critical review of the influential suppression
explanation of the phenomenon proposed by Deutsch and Roll (1976;
JEP:HPP), and includes a discussion of the illusion in relation to pitch
perception, sound localization, ear dominance, cortical
electrophysiology, and mathematical modelling of the illusion according
to pattern-matching theories of pitch perception.

PB&R has a pretty long lag, so I'd be happy to email pre-prints of
the article upon request, including supplementary methodological
information.

best wishes,
Chris

-----------------
ABSTRACT

The octave illusion is elicited by a sequence of tones presented to each
ear that continuously alternate in frequency by one octave, but with high
and low frequencies always in different ears. The percept for most
listeners is a high pitch in one ear alternating with a low pitch in the
other ear. The influential 'suppression model' of the illusion proposed
by Deutsch and Roll (1976) carries three postulates: first, that
listeners perceive only the pitch of the tones presented to their
dominant ear; second, that this pitch is heard in whichever ear received
the higher frequency tone; and third, that this apparent dissociation
between "what" and "where" mechanisms arises from
sequential interactions between the tones. In the present article, we
reappraise evidence for the suppression model and demonstrate (a) the
incompatibility of the theory with existing literature on pitch
perception, sound localization and ear dominance; and (b) methodological
limitations in studies that have claimed to provide support for the
suppression model. We conclude by proposing an alternative theory of the
octave illusion that is based on established principles of fusion, rather
than suppression, between ears.

---

Christopher D. Chambers
Post-doctoral Scientist
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
Department of Psychology
University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
AUSTRALIA

Office Tel.  +61 3 8344 3684
Lab Tel. +61 3 8344 5158
Fax. +61 3 9347 6618

email: c.chambers@psych.unimelb.edu.au