Trehub S E, Cohen A J, Thorpe L A, Morrongiello B A
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1986 Aug;12(3):295-301. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.12.3.295.
In the present research we examined the development of sensitivity to two musical relations significant in Western tonal music, the semitone and diatonic structure. Infants and preschool children were tested for their detection of a semitone change in any position of a five-note melody. Two standard melodies were used, one composed of diatonic tones only and the other containing a non-diatonic tone. In Experiment 1, children from 4 to 6 years of age were superior in detecting the semitone change in the diatonic context compared with the nondiatonic context. In Experiment 2, infants 9 to 11 months of age detected the semitone change in all positions, but their performance was not influenced by diatonic context. These findings indicate that infants and children can discriminate a semitone in a musical context and that the priority of diatonic structure emerges by 4 to 6 years of age.
在本研究中，我们考察了对西方调性音乐中两种重要音乐关系——半音和全音阶结构——的敏感度发展情况。对婴儿和学龄前儿童进行测试，以检测他们对五音旋律中任意位置的半音变化的察觉能力。使用了两首标准旋律，一首仅由全音阶音调组成，另一首包含一个非全音阶音调。在实验1中，4至6岁的儿童在全音阶情境中检测半音变化的能力优于非全音阶情境。在实验2中，9至11个月大的婴儿在所有位置都能检测到半音变化，但其表现不受全音阶情境的影响。这些发现表明，婴儿和儿童能够在音乐情境中辨别半音，并且全音阶结构的优先级在4至6岁时显现出来。
