Exploring the influence of pitch proximity on listener’s melodic expectations.

Abstract

Two studies, one correlational and one meta-analytic, were conducted to explore whether pitch proximity influences listeners' melodic expectations about pitch direction and tonality. Study 1 used a probe-tone task. Specifically, listeners heard fragments of tonal melodies ending on intervals of 1 or 2 semitones, and rated how well individual tones (the probe-tones) continued each fragment. Regression analyses showed that listeners expected probe-tones to be proximate in pitch to the last tone they heard in the fragments, but not to the penultimate one, as there was no evidence of expectations for a change in pitch direction. However, listeners expected probe-tones to be proximate to (at least one of) the other tones they had heard in the fragments, as there was evidence of expectations for a melodic movement toward the bulk of the fragments' pitch distribution. In addition, the most stable probe-tones in the key of the fragments were more expected than the least stable ones only when they were proximate to the tones presented in the fragments. The results of Study 1 were replicated and extended in Study 2, in which a meta-analysis of data reported in Schellenberg (1996, Experiment 1) was performed. These data had been collected using the same probe-tone task as in Study 1, but different melodic fragments; the fragments ended on intervals of 2 or 3 semitones. Together, the present findings suggest, first, that when small intervals occur in a melody, pitch proximity has only a global influence on expectations about pitch direction; and second, that pitch proximity constrains the influence of tonality on melodic expectation.Keywords: pitch proximity, pitch direction, tonality, conceptualization, statistical and heuristic learningPitch Proximity and Melodic ExpectationThe generation of expectations about what events will occur next in a musical piece and when these will appear has long been thought to be a critical aspect of music listening. Basi- cally, the idea is that expectations that prove to be correct facilitate music understanding, or vice versa, and that the in- terplay between expectations' negation and resolution regulates the emotional content of musical experience (Huron, 2006; Meyer, 1956; Narmour, 1990). During the last decades, this idea has stimulated a great deal of theoretical and empirical research, which has been particularly fruitful in the domain of pitch-related melodic expectation. Research in this domain re- vealed that to a large degree listener's expectations can be accounted for by three factors, namely, pitch proximity, pitch direction, and tonality (Bharucha, 1996; Carlsen, 1981; Huron, 2006; Larson, 2004; Lerdahl, 1996, 2001; Margulis, 2005; Meyer, 1956, 1973; Narmour, 1990; Schellenberg, 1997; Tem- perley, 2008). The present research further investigated these factors by exploring how and to what extent pitch proximity influences expectations about pitch direction and tonality.The influence of pitch proximity refers to the effect of distance in pitch between sequentially presented tones on the listener's expectations. It is understood as a gestalt-like audi- tory principle, perhaps the most basic one, regulating what tones listeners expect to occur next in a melody to be grouped with the tones heard previously (Larson, 1997; Margulis, 2005; Meyer, 1956; Narmour, 1990; see also Bregman, 1990). In line with this, there is strong evidence that listeners expect the next tone in a melody to be proximate in pitch to the last tone they heard; all things being equal, the nearer in pitch the ensuing tone is to the last one, the more highly it is expected (Carlsen, 1981; Cuddy & Lunney, 1995; Eerola, 2004; Krumhansl, 1995; Larson, 2004; Schellenberg, 1996). For example, given the melody shown in Figure 1, at the beginning of measure 4 (see the ? mark in the figure), the expectation for Bb4 would be stronger than the expectation for B4, because the former is nearer to A4 (the last tone in the melody) than the latter; the most expected tone would be A4, the unison. …