School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2013 Oct;39(5):1386-97. doi: 10.1037/a0031261. Epub 2013 Feb 11.
Recent experimental findings suggest stable individual differences in the perception of auditory stimuli lacking energy at the fundamental frequency (F0), here called missing fundamental (MF) tones. Specifically, some individuals readily identify the pitch of such tones with the missing F0 ("F0 listeners"), and some base their judgment on the frequency of the partials that make up the tones ("spectral listeners"). However, the diversity of goals and methods in recent research makes it difficult to draw clear conclusions about individual differences. The first purpose of this article is to discuss the influence of methodological choices on listeners' responses. The second goal is to report findings on individual differences in our own studies of the MF phenomenon. In several experiments, participants judged the direction of pitch change in stimuli composed of two MF tones, constructed so as to reveal whether the pitch percept was based on the MF or the partials. The reported difference between F0 listeners and spectral listeners was replicated, but other stable patterns of responses were also observed. Test-retest reliability is high. We conclude that there are genuine, stable individual differences underlying the diverse findings, but also that there are more than two general types of listeners, and that stimulus variables strongly affect some listeners' responses. This suggests that it is generally misleading to classify individuals as "F0 listeners" or "spectral listeners." It may be more accurate to speak of two modes of perception ("F0 listening" and "spectral listening"), both of which are available to many listeners. The individual differences lie in what conditions the choice between the two modes.
最近的实验结果表明，人们在感知缺乏基频（F0）能量的听觉刺激时存在稳定的个体差异，这些刺激通常被称为缺失基频（MF）音。具体来说，一些人可以轻松地识别这些音调的基频（“F0 听众”），而另一些人则根据构成音调的泛音频率来做出判断（“频谱听众”）。然而，由于最近的研究在目标和方法上存在多样性，因此很难得出关于个体差异的明确结论。本文的第一个目的是讨论方法选择对听众反应的影响。第二个目的是报告我们在 MF 现象研究中的个体差异发现。在几项实验中，参与者判断由两个 MF 音组成的刺激的音高变化方向，这些刺激的构造旨在揭示听众的音高感知是基于 MF 还是泛音。我们复制了 F0 听众和频谱听众之间的差异，但也观察到了其他稳定的反应模式。测试-重测信度很高。我们的结论是，在多样化的发现背后存在真正稳定的个体差异，但也存在不止两种一般类型的听众，而且刺激变量会强烈影响一些听众的反应。这表明将个体简单地归类为“F0 听众”或“频谱听众”通常是具有误导性的。更准确的说法可能是存在两种感知模式（“F0 听觉”和“频谱听觉”），许多听众都可以使用这两种模式。个体差异在于两种模式之间的选择条件。
