Re: Pitch learning

[Robert Zatorre <robert.zatorre@xxxxxxxxx>]

for a neuroimaging perspective on learning to associate chord names with 
their corresponding sound, see:

Bermudez, P. & Zatorre, R.J. (2005) Conditional Associative Memory for 
Musical Stimuli in Nonmusicians: Implications for Absolute Pitch. 
Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 7718-7723

the bottom line is that associative memory mechanisms seen in other 
domains requiring abstract "labelling" seem to be operative, and involve 
portions of the posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex.

Robert

Ole Kühl wrote:
> Martin Braun wrote:
>  
> "It's timbre learning. Automatic association of timbre and chroma, the 
> latter
> being derived from the summation of octave-spaced partials, results in a
> secure "secondary" pitch perception.
>
> An analogy is chord identification. Highly trained musicians can identify
> chord categories from the timbre of a chord."
>  
> I find this idea very interesting, and believe it to be true as I have 
> long suspected it to be the case that chord learning is actually timbre 
> learning. If there is any empirical evidence for this I would be 
> most grateful for the particulars.
>  
> Incidentally, this seems to be not only a higher order function, but 
> also an example of what in the lingo of  cognitive semantics would be 
> called conceptual integration or "blending". We could say that we 
> conceptualize a pitch through the integration of information from two 
> different domains: a perceived timbre domain and a learned schema for 
> partials.
>  
> Best
> Ole
>  
>  
>  
> Ole Kühl
> kyhl@xxxxxxx <mailto:kyhl@xxxxxxx>
> www.cogmus.com <http://www.cogmus.com>

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Robert J. Zatorre, Ph.D.
Montreal Neurological Institute
3801 University St.
Montreal, QC Canada H3A 2B4
phone: 1-514-398-8903
fax: 1-514-398-1338
e-mail: robert.zatorre@xxxxxxxxx
web site: www.zlab.mcgill.ca