Absolute Pitch Memory Research Articles

Is Hey Jude in the right key? Cognitive components of absolute pitch memory.

Most individuals, regardless of formal musical training, have long-term absolute pitch memory (APM) for familiar musical recordings, though with varying levels of accuracy. The present study followed up on recent evidence suggesting an association between singing accuracy and APM (Halpern & Pfordresher, 2022, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 84(1), 260-269), as well as tonal short-term memory (STM) and APM (Van Hedger et al., 2018,Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(4), 879-891). Participants from three research sites (n = 108) completed a battery of tasks including APM, tonal STM, singing accuracy, and self-reported auditory imagery. Both tonal STM and singing accuracy predicted APM, replicating prior results. Tonal STM also predicted singing accuracy, music training, and auditory imagery. Further tests suggested that the association between APM and singing accuracy was fully mediated by tonal STM. This pattern comports well with models of vocal pitch matching that include STM for pitch as a mechanism for sensorimotor translation.

Absolute pitch judgments of familiar melodies generalize across timbre and octave.

Most listeners can determine when a familiar recording of music has been shifted in musical key by as little as one semitone (e.g., from B to C major). These findings appear to suggest that absolute pitch memory is widespread in the general population. However, the use of familiar recordings makes it unclear whether these findings genuinely reflect absolute melody-key associations for at least two reasons. First, listeners may be able to use spectral cues from the familiar instrumentation of the recordings to determine when a familiar recording has been shifted in pitch. Second, listeners may be able to rely solely on pitch height cues (e.g., relying on a feeling that an incorrect recording sounds "too high" or "too low"). Neither of these strategies would require an understanding of pitch chroma or musical key. The present experiments thus assessed whether listeners could make accurate absolute melody-key judgments when listening to novel versions of these melodies, differing from the iconic recording in timbre (Experiment 1) or timbre and octave (Experiment 2). Listeners in both experiments were able to select the correct-key version of the familiar melody at rates that were well above chance. These results fit within a growing body of research supporting the idea that most listeners, regardless of formal musical training, have robust representations of absolute pitch - based on pitch chroma - that generalize to novel listening situations. Implications for theories of auditory pitch memory are discussed.

Widespread but Limited in Context: Absolute Tuning Judgments are Disrupted by Relative Pitch Cues

Most listeners exhibit absolute pitch memory for familiar pitched sounds, ranging from simple tones (e.g., the “bleep” used to censor broadcast media) to rich, polyphonic melodies (e.g., excerpts from popular songs). Given that relative pitch is the predominant means of processing music for most listeners, this observed absolute pitch memory suggests that most listeners have hybrid representations, containing both absolute and relative pitch cues. The present experiment assesses how relative pitch cues influence absolute pitch memory in a variety of listening contexts, varying in terms of ecological validity. Participants were asked to explicitly judge different musical sounds (isolated notes, chords, scales, and short excerpts), varying in complexity, in terms of absolute tuning (i.e., whether a musical sound adhered to conventional, A440 tuning). Listeners showed robust above-chance performance in judging absolute tuning when the to-be-judged sounds did not contain relative pitch changes (i.e., isolated notes and chords), replicating prior work. Critically, however, performance was significantly reduced and was not statistically different from chance when the musical sounds contained relative pitch changes (scales and short excerpts). Taken together, the results suggest that most listeners possess some long-term memory for absolute tuning, but this ability has limited generalizability to more ecologically valid musical contexts that contain relative pitch changes.

Musical and linguistic listening modes in the speech-to-song illusion bias timing perception and absolute pitch memory

The speech-to-song (STS) illusion is a phenomenon in which some spoken utterances perceptually transform to song after repetition [Deutsch, Henthorn, and Lapidis (2011). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129, 2245-2252]. Tierney, Dick, Deutsch, and Sereno [(2013). Cereb. Cortex. 23, 249-254] developed a set of stimuli where half tend to transform to perceived song with repetition and half do not. Those that transform and those that do not can be understood to induce a musical or linguistic mode of listening, respectively. By comparing performance on perceptual tasks related to transforming and non-transforming utterances, the current study examines whether the musical mode of listening entails higher sensitivity to temporal regularity and better absolute pitch (AP) memory compared to the linguistic mode. In experiment 1, inter-stimulus intervals within STS trials were steady, slightly variable, or highly variable. Participants reported how temporally regular utterance entrances were. In experiment 2, participants performed an AP memory task after a blocked STS exposure phase. Utterances identically matching those used in the exposure phase were targets among transposed distractors in the test phase. Results indicate that listeners exhibit heightened awareness of temporal manipulations but reduced awareness of AP manipulations to transforming utterances. This methodology establishes a framework for implicitly differentiating musical from linguistic perception.

On the Perceptual Subprocess of Absolute Pitch.

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability of musicians to identify the pitch of tonal sound without external reference. While there have been behavioral and neuroimaging studies on the characteristics of AP, how the AP is implemented in human brains remains largely unknown. AP can be viewed as comprising of two subprocesses: perceptual (processing auditory input to extract a pitch chroma) and associative (linking an auditory representation of pitch chroma with a verbal/non-verbal label). In this review, we focus on the nature of the perceptual subprocess of AP. Two different models on how the perceptual subprocess works have been proposed: either via absolute pitch categorization (APC) or based on absolute pitch memory (APM). A major distinction between the two views is that whether the AP uses unique auditory processing (i.e., APC) that exists only in musicians with AP or it is rooted in a common phenomenon (i.e., APM), only with heightened efficiency. We review relevant behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that supports each notion. Lastly, we list open questions and potential ideas to address them.

A developmental study of latent absolute pitch memory.

The ability to recall the absolute pitch level of familiar music (latent absolute pitch memory) is widespread in adults, in contrast to the rare ability to label single pitches without a reference tone (overt absolute pitch memory). The present research investigated the developmental profile of latent absolute pitch (AP) memory and explored individual differences related to this ability. In two experiments, 288 children from 4 to12 years of age performed significantly above chance at recognizing the absolute pitch level of familiar melodies. No age-related improvement or decline, nor effects of musical training, gender, or familiarity with the stimuli were found in regard to latent AP task performance. These findings suggest that latent AP memory is a stable ability that is developed from as early as age 4 and persists into adulthood.

Transpositions Within User-Posted YouTube Lyric Videos: A Corpus Study

There are many practical reasons why experiences of a given musical work tend to be heard repeatedly at the same pitch transposition level, especially recordings of musical works. Yet here, a corpus study is presented that challenges this very basic assumption of music perception. In 2011, an initial corpus of 100 user-posted YouTube videos was collected in order to investigate the prevalence of transposition and tempo alterations within these videos. Results found 42% of these videos contained nominal changes of pitch (36%) and/or tempo (22%). Using the same methodology, a follow-up study was performed in 2015 and found only that 24% of user-posted videos contained these same alterations. Implications for these observations are discussed in light of musical communication models, YouTubeology, and absolute pitch memory.

What the [bleep]? Enhanced absolute pitch memory for a 1000 Hz sine tone

Many individuals are able to perceive when the tuning of familiar stimuli, such as popular music recordings, has been altered. This suggests a kind of ubiquitous pitch memory, though it is unclear how this ability differs across individuals with and without absolute pitch (AP) and whether it plays any role in AP. In the present study, we take advantage of a salient single frequency – the 1000Hz sine tone used to censor taboo words in broadcast media – to assess the nature of this kind of pitch memory across individuals with and without AP. We show that non-AP participants are accurate at selecting the correct version of the censor tone among incorrect versions shifted by either one or two semitones, though their accuracy was still below that of an AP population (Experiment 1). This suggests a benefit for AP listeners that could be due to the use of explicit note categories or greater amounts of musical training. However, AP possessors still outperformed all non-AP participants when incorrect versions of the censor tone were shifted within a note category, even when controlling for musical experience (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 demonstrated that AP listeners did not appear to possess a category label for the censor tone that could have helped them differentiate the censor tones used in Experiment 2. Overall, these results suggest that AP possessors may have better pitch memory, even when divorced from pitch labeling (note categories). As such, these results have implications for how AP may develop and be maintained.

The Role of Absolute Pitch Memory in the Oral Transmission of Folksongs

Absolute Pitch (AP) is the ability to identify or produce isolated tones in the absence of contextual cues or reference pitches. While AP is thought to differ from other human abilities in its bimodal distribution (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993) – either you have it or you do not – recent evidence suggests that memory for absolute pitch in a melody is actually widespread (Schellenberg & Trehub, 2003). In the current project the Dutch collection of historic audio recordings, Onder de Groene Linde (Grijp, 2008), is used as a source to explore the potential role of AP in the memory of songs transmitted in oral traditions. Since the melodies in this database are grouped by tune family and are available as sound files, they can serve as empirical support for the Absolute Pitch Memory (APM) hypothesis predicting that these tunes are memorized and transmitted over time and geographical location based on their absolute pitch height. To this end, a between- and a within-tune family analysis was performed. In the between tune family analysis, two tune families showed significant inter-recording tonic pitch consistency. The within tune family analysis further substantialized that effect, while controlling for possible factors of variance, such as gender, geographical origin, and lyrics. Together, the results are taken as empirical support that APM plays a significant role in the oral transmission of folksongs.

Absolute Pitch in Oral Transmission of Folk Tunes as Constrained Random Walks

In this commentary, I would like to add a few of our own, still unpublished, empirical observations concerning the possible role of absolute pitch memory (APM) in the oral transmission of folksongs. This empirical data poses some questions on the likelihood of the observed inter-recording tonic pitch consistency of Olthof, Janssen & Honing (2015) and how these could come about. Based on simulations of absolute pitch class of tonics during oral transmission of folk songs, I argue that the interplay of melodic range and vocal range might actually be the main reason for the observed non-uniformity, in contrast to the conclusions presented in Olthof et al. (2015). However, this does not invalidate the therein presented evidence, but makes the case more puzzling, consequently calling for more empirical research on the interaction of melodic and vocal range and latent APM as well as for more detailed modeling of oral transmission of folk songs.

Interaction of relative pitch memory and latent absolute pitch for songs in an ordered list.

There are two components to absolute pitch (AP): Absolute pitch memory, the ability to produce or aurally recognize a familiar tone without an external reference; and absolute pitch labeling, the ability to identify the tone with a specific label (Levitin, 1994). The incidence of AP is rare, with a rate of occurrence of about 0.01% for the general population (Profita & Bidder, 1988; Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993) and about 10% to 15% for professional musicians (Baharloo, Johnston, Service, Gitschier, & Freimer, 1998). However, AP is not all-or-nothing, as many people possess some characteristics of AP (Levitin & Rogers, 2005). For example, not all who can aurally recognize a familiar tone can also produce the tone, although these abilities tend to be highly correlated (Dohn, Garza-Villarreal, Ribe, Wallentin, & Vuust, 2014; Levitin, 1999; Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993). One may possess AP for a single tone, such as the orchestral tuning pitch A (Bachem, 1937; Levitin, 1999; Parncutt & Levitin, 2001), a dial tone (Smith & Schmuckler, 2008), or a short-term reference pitch for unaccompanied solo singing (Mauch, Frieler, & Dixon, 2014). It is also possible to produce or aurally recognize the pitch level of familiar songs without reference to specific labels. This type of absolute pitch memory has been identified by different names, including pieceAP, residual AP, implicit AP, and latent AP (Deutsch, 2013; Parncutt & Levitin, 2001; Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993; Terhardt & Seewann, 1983; Terhardt & Ward, 1982).Studies of latent AP show that it is more common than AP among the general population. In a study by Halpern (1989),22 undergraduate students were recorded singing familiar folk songs in sessions 48 hr apart. The pitch levels of the songs were consistent among multiple performances, differing in pitch by an average of 1.28 semitones. Bergeson and Trehub (2002) recorded 15 mothers singing folk songs and lullabies to their infants in sessions approximately 1 week apart. The performances, from session to session, differed in pitch by an average of 0.82 semitones. Levitin (1994) noted that folk songs do not occur in any one standard key and could be encountered in a number of different keys, which may lead to less accuracy in production. For his study, Levitin asked 46 undergraduate and graduate students to choose a CD that contained a familiar song. By using commercial recordings on CD, the assumption was that there was one correct pitch level for the song, which would give an objective standard for judging pitch memory. In two separate trials, students were instructed to hold the CD while imagining a song, and then to sing the song. On average, the performances differed in pitch from the original recordings by ^1 semitone. Also, 40% of the participants sang at least one song at the correct pitch, and 12% sang both songs at the correct pitch. Frieler et al. (2013) replicated Levitin's study with 277 participants and found a similar, albeit smaller, effect: 25% of the participants sang at least one song at the correct pitch, and 4% sang both songs at the correct pitch, with a considerable difference in results among the six participating labs. The results of both studies were above chance levels, which were 17% for singing at least one song at the correct pitch, and 0.7% for singing both songs at the correct pitch. Frieler et al. noted that the smaller effect in their study may have been caused by the availability of popular songs on the Internet; in particular, pitch levels for the same recording may differ on streaming Web sites, resulting in multiple correct pitch levels (also noted in Jakubowski & Mullensiefen, 2013; Plazak, 2012).Listening-based studies of latent AP have found that persons who do not possess AP can discern whether a familiar song is in its original key or transposed, even if the level of transposition is only 1 semitone. In Schellenberg and Trehub's (2003) study, 48 college students listened to 5-s instrumental excerpts of theme songs from popular TV shows. …

Absolute memory for popular songs is predicted by auditory working memory ability

While most individuals do not possess absolute pitch (AP)—the ability to name an isolated musical note in absence of a reference note—they do show some limited memory for absolute pitch of melodies. For example, most individuals are able to recognize when a well-known song has been subtly pitch shifted. Presumably, individuals are able to select the correct absolute pitch at above-chance levels because well-known songs are frequently heard at a consistent pitch. In the current studies, we ask whether individual differences in absolute pitch judgments for people without AP can be explained by general differences in auditory working memory. Working memory capacity has been shown to predict the perceptual fidelity of long-term category representations in vision; thus, it is possible that auditory working memory capacity explains individual differences in recognizing the tuning of familiar songs. We found that participants were reliably above chance in classifying popular songs as belonging to the correct or incorrect key. Moreover, individual differences in this recognition performance were predicted by auditory working memory capacity, even after controlling for overall music experience and stimulus familiarity. Implications for the interaction between working memory and AP are discussed.

Absolute memory for pitch: A comparative replication of Levitin’s 1994 study in six European labs

In a widely cited study, Levitin (1994) suggested the existence of absolute pitch memory for music in the general population beyond the rare trait of genuine absolute pitch (AP). In his sample, a significant proportion of non-AP possessors were able to reproduce absolute pitch levels when asked to sing very familiar pop songs from memory. Forty-four percent of participants sang the correct pitch on at least one of two trials, and 12% were correct on both trials. However, until now, no replication of this study has ever been published. The current paper presents the results of a large replication endeavour across six different labs in Germany and the UK. All labs used the same methodology, carefully replicating Levitin’s original experiment. In each lab, between 40 and 50 participants were tested ( N = 277). Participants were asked to sing two different pop songs of their choice. All sung productions were compared to the original songs. Twenty-five percent of the participants sang the exact pitch of at least one of the two chosen songs and 4% hit the right pitches for both songs. Our results generally confirm the findings of Levitin (1994). However, the results differ considerably across laboratories, and the estimated overall effect using meta-analysis techniques was significantly smaller than Levitin’s original result. This illustrates the variability of empirical findings derived from small sample sizes and corroborates the need for replication and meta-analytical studies in music psychology in general.

Absolute pitch memory: Its prevalence among musicians and dependence on the testing context

Absolute pitch (AP) is widely believed to be a rare ability possessed by only a small group of gifted and special individuals (AP possessors). While AP has fascinated psychologists, neuroscientists, and musicians for more than a century, no theory can satisfactorily explain why this ability is so rare and difficult to learn. Here, we show that AP ability appears rare because of the methodological issues of the standard pitch-naming test. Specifically, the standard test unnecessarily poses a high decisional demand on AP judgments and uses a testing context that is highly inconsistent with one's musical training. These extra cognitive challenges are not central to AP memory per se and have thus led to consistent underestimation of AP ability in the population. Using the standard test, we replicated the typical findings that the accuracy for general violinists was low (12.38 %; chance level = 0 %). With identical stimuli, scoring criteria, and participants, violinists attained 25 % accuracy in a pitch verification test in which the decisional demand of AP judgment was reduced. When the testing context was increasingly similar to their musical experience, verification accuracy improved further and reached 39 %, three times higher than that for the standard test. Results were replicated with a separate group of pianists. Our findings challenge current theories about AP and suggest that the prevalence of AP among musicians has been highly underestimated in prior work. A multimodal framework is proposed to better explain AP memory.

The influence of music-elicited emotions and relative pitch on absolute pitch memory for familiar melodies

Levitin's findings that nonmusicians could produce from memory the absolute pitches of self-selected pop songs have been widely cited in the music psychology literature. These findings suggest that latent absolute pitch (AP) memory may be a more widespread trait within the population than traditional AP labelling ability. However, it has been left unclear what factors may facilitate absolute pitch retention for familiar pieces of music. The aim of the present paper was to investigate factors that may contribute to latent AP memory using Levitin's sung production paradigm for AP memory and comparing results to the outcomes of a pitch labelling task, a relative pitch memory test, measures of music-induced emotions, and various measures of participants' musical backgrounds. Our results suggest that relative pitch memory and the quality and degree of music-elicited emotions impact on latent AP memory.

Dial A440 for absolute pitch: Absolute pitch memory by non-absolute pitch possessors

Listeners without absolute (or "perfect") pitch have difficulty identifying or producing isolated musical pitches from memory. Instead, they process the relative pattern of pitches, which remains invariant across pitch transposition. Musically untrained non-absolute pitch possessors demonstrated absolute pitch memory for the telephone dial tone, a stimulus that is always heard at the same absolute frequency. Listeners accurately classified pitch-shifted versions of the dial tone as "normal," "higher than normal" or "lower than normal." However, the role of relative pitch processing was also evident, in that listeners' pitch judgments were also sensitive to the frequency range of stimuli.

Absolute pitch in emphasized speech

End and turning points of speech pitch contours show an influence of norm-tones that are dominant in daily music exposure (Braun, 2001). A possible relation of this effect to speech parameters was examined in 256 sentences of one contour type, read by eight female speakers of Dutch in normal or in locally emphasized voice. Only the emphasis condition showed a significant bias toward norm-tones, with the syllables related to emphasis producing the strongest effects. The results show that in speech production, the retrieval from a precognitive, absolute pitch memory apparently is dependent on motivational state, which would agree with known characteristics of brain anatomy.

Speech mirrors norm-tones: Absolute pitch as a normal but precognitive trait

Recent physiological data show a bias in the human auditory system toward the tone frequencies that are dominant in daily music exposure (Braun, 2000). A possible behavioral correlation was examined by analyzing the speech-pitch contours of 2,400 sentences of 15 speakers of Dutch. A bias was found toward the standard frequencies of music according to the international norm A4=440 Hz, and it was limited to the dominant tones in daily music exposure, ACDEFG. Further it varied with loudness level and voice register. These results indicate that a precognitive absolute pitch-memory may be a normal trait of the human brain.

或る絶對音聽兒に就ての調査 (序報)

或る絶對音聽兒に就ての調査 (序報)