絶対音感におけるピッチメモリの精度とピッチラベリングの正確度

Abstract

Absolute pitch (AP) is assumed to involve both pitch memory and pitch labeling for musical pitches. While people with AP possess both, non-AP individuals possess only pitch memory. AP possessors are superior to non-AP possessors in pitch labeling accuracy for semitones, but whether this holds true in pitch memory precision that cannot be labeled by a musical pitch name is unclear. In this study, pitch memory for tones subdivided by less than one semitone was compared among accurate AP possessors, inaccurate AP possessors, and non-AP possessors. In experiment 1, participants were given a pitch labeling task, and both accurate and inaccurate AP possessors were superior to non-AP possessors in the precision of pitch memory. However, in experiment 2, in which pitch labeling was not required, inaccurate AP possessors were not superior to non-AP possessors. In addition, the perceptual shift toward low pitch was also observed below the age of twenty years on average.