Detecting surface changes in a familiar tune: exploring pitch, tempo and timbre

Paola Crespo-Bojorque, Alexandre Celma-Miralles, Juan M. Toro*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Humans recognize a melody independently of whether it is played on a piano or a violin, faster or slower, or at higher or lower frequencies. Much of the way in which we engage with music relies in our ability to normalize across these surface changes. Despite the uniqueness of our music faculty, there is the possibility that key aspects in music processing emerge from general sensitivities already present in other species. Here we explore whether other animals react to surface changes in a tune. We familiarized the animals (Long–Evans rats) with the “Happy Birthday” tune on a piano. We then presented novel test items that included changes in pitch (higher and lower octave transpositions), tempo (double and half the speed) and timbre (violin and piccolo). While the rats responded differently to the familiar and the novel version of the tune when it was played on novel instruments, they did not respond differently to the original song and its novel versions that included octave transpositions and changes in tempo.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnimal Cognition
Volume25
Issue4
Pages (from-to)951-960
Number of pages10
ISSN1435-9448
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022

Keywords

  • Familiarization
  • Music cognition
  • Pitch
  • Rats
  • Tempo
  • Timbre

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Detecting surface changes in a familiar tune: exploring pitch, tempo and timbre'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this