Subject: multidimensional scaling of timbre From: Christian Kaernbach <auditorylist@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:17:32 +0200 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Dear list, I seem to remember that one lesson from multidimensional scaling of timbres was that the type of dimensions found depends strongly on the selection of the stimuli. If my memory serves me right, the similarity data would alway yield two- to three-dimensional spaces, regardless of whether the stimuli were quite divers (all types of instruments of the classical orchestra) or from a narrow subgroup (say, all woodwinds). In other words, people seem to be able to manage two to three dimensions in their cognitive space representing the entirety of the stimuli of a certain experiment. Is that correct, and is there a reference referring to this phenomenon? Thanks in advance, Chris -- Christian Kaernbach Kiel University Germany www.kaernbach.de