Thompson William Forde, Peter Varghese, Olsen Kirk N, Stevens Catherine J
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2012;65(10):2054-72. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2012.678369. Epub 2012 May 31.
In two experiments, we examined the effect of intensity and intensity change on judgements of pitch differences or interval size. In Experiment 1, 39 musically untrained participants rated the size of the interval spanned by two pitches within individual gliding tones. Tones were presented at high intensity, low intensity, looming intensity (up-ramp), and fading intensity (down-ramp) and glided between two pitches spanning either 6 or 7 semitones (a tritone or a perfect fifth interval). The pitch shift occurred in either ascending or descending directions. Experiment 2 repeated the conditions of Experiment 1 but the shifts in pitch and intensity occurred across two discrete tones (i.e., a melodic interval). Results indicated that participants were sensitive to the differences in interval size presented: Ratings were significantly higher when two pitches differed by 7 semitones than when they differed by 6 semitones. However, ratings were also dependent on whether the interval was high or low in intensity, whether it increased or decreased in intensity across the two pitches, and whether the interval was ascending or descending in pitch. Such influences illustrate that the perception of pitch relations does not always adhere to a logarithmic function as implied by their musical labels, but that identical intervals are perceived as substantially different in size depending on other attributes of the sound source.
在两项实验中，我们考察了强度及强度变化对音高差异或音程大小判断的影响。在实验1中，39名未接受过音乐训练的参与者对单个滑音中两个音高所跨越的音程大小进行评分。音调以高强度、低强度、渐强（上升斜坡）和渐弱（下降斜坡）呈现，并在跨越6个或7个半音（三全音或纯五度音程）的两个音高之间滑动。音高变化发生在上升或下降方向。实验2重复了实验1的条件，但音高和强度的变化发生在两个离散的音调之间（即旋律音程）。结果表明，参与者对所呈现的音程大小差异很敏感：当两个音高相差7个半音时的评分显著高于相差6个半音时的评分。然而，评分还取决于音程强度是高还是低、在两个音高之间强度是增加还是减少，以及音程在音高上是上升还是下降。这些影响表明，音高关系的感知并不总是如它们的音乐标签所暗示的那样遵循对数函数，而是相同的音程根据声源的其他属性在大小上会被感知为有很大差异。
