Subject: memory for pitch From: Diana Deutsch <ddeutsch@xxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 12:04:51 -0700--============_-1063797804==_ma============ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Dear all, Baddeley's working memory model doesn't take pitch information, or musical information, into account. Concerning short term memory for pitch, a while ago I carried out a number of experiments showing that this is the function of a specialized memory system. For example, if two test tones are separated by a sequence of intervening tones, recognition is severely degraded, even though the subjects are told to ignore the intervening tones. But if the tones are instead separated by a sequence of spoken numbers, there is little if any degradation of pitch recognition, even when the subjects are asked to recall the numbers. See: Deutsch, D. Tones and numbers: Specificity of interference in immediate memory. Science,1970, 168, 1604-1605 posted as a PDF at http://psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch/psychology/deutsch_publications.htm The effect has been replicated and extended by others, particularly Semal and Demany (references posted at my website). Also my CD 'Phantom words, and other curiosities' - available from http://www.philomel.com - contains a full experiment demonstrating this effect, and this experiment makes for an excellent classroom demonstration - the students find the contrast between the interpolated tones and interpolated numbers surprising and entertaining. In other experiments, short term memory for pitch has been shown to be the function of a system in which highly specific and orderly interactive effects take place. For reviews, see the two book chapters also posted as PDFs on the above website: Deutsch, D. The organization of short-term memory for a single acoustic attribute. In D. Deutsch & J. A. Deutsch (Eds.), Short-term memory. New York: Academic Press, 1975. l07-l51 Deutsch, D. Processing of pitch combinations. In Deutsch, D. (Ed.) The psychology of music, 2nd Edition, Academic Press, 1999, 349-412. Several articles demonstrating specific effects are posted as PDFs on this website, and on http://psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch/psychology/deutsch_research9.html where other references are also given. About the issue of rehearsal strategy, subjects in these experiments keep trying to adopt different strategies, and generally believe they have found the 'ideal' strategy for a while, only to abandon it for a different one. But their actual data show no advantage of one strategy over another. So at least where memory for the pitch of a single tone is concerned, performance appears to be substantially unrelated to rehearsal strategy, and appears to be the function of a low-level system that has characteristics which are very similar to the system that handles pitch information at the incoming level. But one additional thing - it's easy to show a dissociation between 'what' and 'when' information in pitch memory. See, for example: Deutsch, D. Dislocation of tones in a musical sequence: A memory illusion. Nature, 1970, 226, No. 5242 and Deutsch, D. Effect of repetition of standard and comparison tones on recognition memory for pitch. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1972, 93, 156-162, both of which are available as PDFs at the above websites. Cheers, Diana -- Professor Diana Deutsch Department of Psychology University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr. #0109 La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA 858-453-1558 (tel) 858-453-4763 (fax) http://www-psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch http://www.philomel.com --============_-1063797804==_ma============ Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 } --></style><title>memory for pitch</title></head><body> <div><font color="#000000">Dear all,</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Baddeley's working memory model doesn't take pitch information, or musical information, into account. Concerning short term memory for pitch, a while ago I carried out a number of experiments showing that this is the function of a specialized memory system. For example, if two test tones are separated by a sequence of intervening tones, recognition is severely degraded, even though the subjects are told to ignore the intervening tones. But if the tones are instead separated by a sequence of spoken numbers, there is little if any degradation of pitch recognition, even when the subjects are asked to recall the numbers. See:</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Deutsch, D. Tones and numbers: Specificity of interference in immediate memory.<i> Science,</i>1970,<i> 168,</i> 1604-1605</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">posted as a PDF at</font><font color="#0000FF"><u> http://psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch/psychology/deutsch_publications.htm</u></font ></div> <div><font color="#0000FF"><u><br></u></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The effect has been replicated and extended by others, particularly Semal and Demany (references posted at my website).<br> <br> Also my CD '<i>Phantom words, and other curiosities'</i> - available from</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"> </font><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://www.philomel.com</u></font><font color="#000000"> - contains a full experiment demonstrating this effect, and this experiment makes for an excellent classroom demonstration - the students find the contrast between the interpolated tones and interpolated numbers surprising and entertaining.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> In other experiments, short term memory for pitch has been shown to be the function of a system in which highly specific and orderly interactive effects take place. For reviews, see the two book chapters also posted as PDFs on the above website:</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> Deutsch, D. The organization of short-term memory for a single acoustic attribute. In D. Deutsch & J. A. Deutsch (Eds.),<i> Short-term memory</i>. New York: Academic Press, 1975. l07-l51</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> Deutsch, D. Processing of pitch combinations. In Deutsch, D. (Ed.)<i> The psychology of music,</i> 2nd Edition, Academic Press, 1999, 349-412.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> Several articles demonstrating specific effects are posted as PDFs on this website, and on</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#800080"><u >http://psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch/psychology/deutsch_research9.html</u></font ></div> <div><font color="#800080"><u><br> </u></font><font color="#000000">where other references are also given.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">About the issue of rehearsal strategy, subjects in these experiments keep trying to adopt different strategies, and generally believe they have found the 'ideal' strategy for a while, only to abandon it for a different one. But their actual data show no advantage of one strategy over another. So at least where memory for the pitch of a single tone is concerned, performance appears to be substantially unrelated to rehearsal strategy, and appears to be the function of a low-level system that has characteristics which are very similar to the system that handles pitch information at the incoming level. But one additional thing - it's easy to show a dissociation between '<i>what'</i> and<i> 'when'</i> information in pitch memory. See, for example:</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"> Deutsch, D. Dislocation of tones in a musical sequence: A memory illusion.<i> Nature</i>, 1970,<i> 226,</i> No. 5242</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">and</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"> Deutsch, D. Effect of repetition of standard and comparison tones on recognition memory for pitch.<i> Journal of Experimental Psychology,</i> 1972,<i> 93</i>, 156-162,</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">both of which are available as PDFs at the above websites.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> Cheers,</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Diana</font></div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div>Professor Diana Deutsch<br> Department of Psychology <span ></span > <span ></span> <br> University of California, San Diego<br> 9500 Gilman Dr. #0109 <span ></span> <br> La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA<br> <br> 858-453-1558 (tel)<br> 858-453-4763 (fax)<br> <br> http://www-psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch<br> http://www.philomel.com<br> </div> </body> </html> --============_-1063797804==_ma============--