Pitch Identification in Children and Adults: Naming and Discrimination

Abstract

Elementary school children and adults selected for significant pitch identification ability, so called "absolute pitch", were given two tasks to determine some of the characteristics of this skill. In a pitch-naming task, participants gave the note names for tones randomly selected from the chromatic scale either with a conventional piano or pure tone timbre. Naming accuracy was higher among the adults, on trials having the piano timbre, and for certain pitch categories (note names), reflecting more accurate identification of "white key" pitches. Analysis of errors indicated a strong bias towards certain pitch categories, again primarily the "white key" pitches, in both children and adults. Comparison subjects having similar musical training, but no absolute pitch, also showed these biases. In a pitch recognition task, participants were asked to detect additional exemplars of a target tone in an extended series of tones varying in pitch. While those with significant pitch naming skill were quite adept at this task as well, biases associated with pitch category were less apparent. These results suggest a distinction between pitch encoding and naming in those who excel in pitch identification.