Pitteri Marco, Marchetti Mauro, Priftis Konstantinos, Grassi Massimo
Neurology Section, Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Piazzale Ludovico Antonio Scuro, 10, 37134, Verona, Italy.
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
Psychol Res. 2017 Jan;81(1):243-254. doi: 10.1007/s00426-015-0713-6. Epub 2015 Sep 30.
Pitch-height is often labeled spatially (i.e., low or high) as a function of the fundamental frequency of the tone. This correspondence is highlighted by the so-called Spatial-Musical Association of Response Codes (SMARC) effect. However, the literature suggests that the brightness of the tone's timbre might contribute to this spatial association. We investigated the SMARC effect in a group of non-musicians by disentangling the role of pitch-height and the role of tone-brightness. In three experimental conditions, participants were asked to judge whether the tone they were listening to was (or was not) modulated in amplitude (i.e., vibrato). Participants were required to make their response in both the horizontal and the vertical axes. In a first condition, tones varied coherently in pitch (i.e., manipulation of the tone's F0) and brightness (i.e., manipulation of the tone's spectral centroid); in a second condition, pitch-height varied whereas brightness was fixed; in a third condition, pitch-height was fixed whereas brightness varied. We found the SMARC effect only in the first condition and only in the vertical axis. In contrast, we did not observe the effect in any of the remaining conditions. The present results suggest that, in non-musicians, the SMARC effect is not due to the manipulation of the pitch-height alone, but arises because of a coherent change of pitch-height and brightness; this effect emerges along the vertical axis only.
音高高度通常根据音调的基频在空间上进行标记（即低或高）。这种对应关系由所谓的反应代码空间 - 音乐关联（SMARC）效应突出显示。然而，文献表明音调音色的明亮度可能有助于这种空间关联。我们通过区分音高高度和音调明亮度的作用，在一组非音乐家群体中研究了SMARC效应。在三种实验条件下，要求参与者判断他们正在收听的音调是否在幅度上被调制（即颤音）。参与者需要在水平轴和垂直轴上做出反应。在第一种条件下，音调在音高（即音调的F0的操纵）和明亮度（即音调的光谱质心的操纵）上连贯变化；在第二种条件下，音高高度变化而明亮度固定；在第三种条件下，音高高度固定而明亮度变化。我们仅在第一种条件下且仅在垂直轴上发现了SMARC效应。相比之下，在其余任何条件下我们都未观察到该效应。目前的结果表明，在非音乐家中，SMARC效应并非仅由音高高度的操纵引起，但由于音高高度和明亮度的连贯变化而产生；这种效应仅在垂直轴上出现。
