Document Detail


Pitch perception beyond the traditional existence region of pitch.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21502495     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Humans' ability to recognize musical melodies is generally limited to pure-tone frequencies below 4 or 5 kHz. This limit coincides with the highest notes on modern musical instruments and is widely believed to reflect the upper limit of precise stimulus-driven spike timing in the auditory nerve. We tested the upper limits of pitch and melody perception in humans using pure and harmonic complex tones, such as those produced by the human voice and musical instruments, in melody recognition and pitch-matching tasks. We found that robust pitch perception can be elicited by harmonic complex tones with fundamental frequencies below 2 kHz, even when all of the individual harmonics are above 6 kHz--well above the currently accepted existence region of pitch and above the currently accepted limits of neural phase locking. The results suggest that the perception of musical pitch at high frequencies is not constrained by temporal phase locking in the auditory nerve but may instead stem from higher-level constraints shaped by prior exposure to harmonic sounds.
Authors:
Andrew J Oxenham; Christophe Micheyl; Michael V Keebler; Adam Loper; Sébastien Santurette
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural     Date:  2011-04-18
Journal Detail:
Title:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America     Volume:  108     ISSN:  1091-6490     ISO Abbreviation:  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.     Publication Date:  2011 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-05-04     Completed Date:  2011-07-15     Revised Date:  2011-11-03    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7505876     Medline TA:  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  7629-34     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. oxenham@umn.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Acoustic Stimulation
Cochlear Nerve / physiology*
Humans
Music*
Pitch Perception / physiology*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
R01 DC005216/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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