Abstract
Pitch-interval processing is an important aspect of both speech and music perception. The current study investigated the extent to which relative pitch processing differs between intervals of the western musical system and whether these differences can be accounted for by the simplicity of an interval's integer-ratio. Pitch-interval discrimination thresholds were measured using adaptive psychophysics for sequentially presented pure-tone intervals with standard distances of 1 semitone (minor second, 16:15), 6 semitones (the tritone, 45:32), and 7 semitones (perfect fifth, 3:2) at both high (1500–5000 Hz) and low (100–500 Hz) frequency regions. Results show similar thresholds across all three interval distances with no significant difference between low and high frequency regions. Consistent with previous studies, thresholds obtained from musicians were considerably lower than those from non-musicians. Data support enhanced pitch-interval perception by musicians but argue against an effect of frequency-ratio simplicity in the case of pure-tone melodic intervals.
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