Foxton Jessica M, Nandy Rachel K, Griffiths Timothy D
Auditory Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Framlington Place, Newcastle NE2 4HH, UK.
Brain Cogn. 2006 Oct;62(1):24-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2006.03.005. Epub 2006 May 8.
It is commonly observed that 'tone deaf' individuals are unable to hear the beat of a tune, yet deficits on simple timing tests have not been found. In this study, we investigated rhythm processing in nine individuals with congenital amusia ('tone deafness') and nine controls. Participants were presented with pairs of 5-note sequences, and were required to detect the presence of a lengthened interval. In different conditions the sound sequences were presented isochronously or in an integer-ratio rhythm, and these were either monotonic or varied randomly in pitch. It was found that the 'tone deaf' participants exhibited inferior rhythm analysis for the sequences that varied in pitch compared to those that did not, whereas the controls obtained equivalent thresholds for these two conditions. These results suggest that the rhythm deficits in congenital amusia result from the pitch-variations in music.
人们普遍观察到，“音盲”个体无法听出曲调的节拍，但在简单的计时测试中并未发现缺陷。在本研究中，我们调查了9名先天性失歌症（“音盲”）患者和9名对照者的节奏处理能力。向参与者呈现成对的5音符序列，并要求他们检测是否存在延长的间隔。在不同条件下，声音序列以等时性或整数比节奏呈现，并且这些序列在音高上要么是单调的，要么是随机变化的。结果发现，与音高不变的序列相比，“音盲”参与者对音高变化的序列表现出较差的节奏分析能力，而对照组在这两种条件下获得了相同的阈值。这些结果表明，先天性失歌症的节奏缺陷是由音乐中的音高变化导致的。
