Subject: Re: Absolute pitch discussion From: Martin Braun <nombraun@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 15:49:17 +0200 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Dear Henkjan and list: > ..... Schellenberg and Trehub (2003) find support for a normal, not > bimodal, distribution once pitch-naming or reproduction requirements are > eliminated and familiar materials (such as soundtracks of tv > programs) are used. I agree that this paper reports very useful data, which support earlier evidence for precognitive absolute pitch (AP) as a general human trait. However the performance in memory of pitch level of popular TV soundtracks was only slightly above chance level. This observation indicates that the underlying memory substrate is not the same as in the AP skill of tone naming. We appear to have two different phenomena: A: A moderately precise memory for pitch that can be learned by adults and that shows normal distribution of performance in a tested group. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9280.03432 AND B: A highly precise memory for pitch that cannot be learned by adults and that shows bimodal (all-or-nothing) distribution of performance in a tested group. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0703868104v1 Martin --------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Braun Neuroscience of Music S-671 95 Klässbol Sweden web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Henkjan Honing" <honing@xxxxxxxx> To: <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:37 PM Subject: Re: Absolute pitch discussion The PNAS paper suggests a genetic basis for AP, but actually does not present any evidence for this. Awaiting this evidence, others —not cited in this paper— have argued and shown that it is more likely 1) a result of training (e.g., Vitouch, 2003), or 2) simply a result of biases due to the task and stimuli used. For example, Schellenberg and Trehub (2003) find support for a normal, not bimodal, distribution once pitch-naming or reproduction requirements are eliminated and familiar materials (such as soundtracks of tv programs) are used. hh [1] http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/mp.2003.21.1.111 [2] http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9280.03432 __________________________________________________ Dr H. Honing Universiteit van Amsterdam http://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/hh/ Music Matters: http://www.musiccognition.nl/blog __________________________________________________