Wenhart Teresa, Altenmüller Eckart
Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover, Germany.
Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hanover, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2019 Jan 22;10:31. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00031. eCollection 2019.
Absolute pitch, the ability to name or produce a musical tone without a reference, is a rare ability which is often related to early musical training and genetic components. However, it remains a matter of debate why absolute pitch is relatively common in autism spectrum disorders and why absolute pitch possessors exhibit higher autistic traits. By definition absolute pitch is an ability that does not require the relation of tones but is based on a lower-level perceptual entity than relative pitch (involving relations between tones, intervals, and melodies). This study investigated whether a detail-oriented cognitive style, a concept borrowed from the autism literature (weak central coherence theory), might provide a framework to explain this joint occurrence. Two local-to-global experiments in vision (hierarchically constructed letters) and audition (hierarchically constructed melodies) as well as a pitch adjustment test measuring absolute pitch proficiency were conducted in 31 absolute pitch and 33 relative pitch professional musicians. Analyses revealed inconsistent group differences among reaction time, total of correct trials and speed-accuracy-composite-scores of experimental conditions (local vs. global, and congruent vs. incongruent stimuli). Furthermore, amounts of interference of global form on judgments of local elements and vice versa were calculated. Interestingly, reduced global-to-local interference in audition was associated with greater absolute pitch ability and in vision with higher autistic traits. Results are partially in line with the idea of a detail-oriented cognitive style in absolute pitch musicians. The inconsistency of the results might be due to limitations of global-to-local paradigms in measuring cognitive style and due to heterogeneity of absolute pitch possessors. In summary, this study provides further evidence for a multifaceted pattern of various and potentially interacting factors on the acquisition of absolute pitch.
绝对音高，即无需参照就能说出或唱出一个音的能力，是一种罕见的能力，通常与早期音乐训练和遗传因素有关。然而，绝对音高为何在自闭症谱系障碍中相对常见，以及绝对音高拥有者为何表现出更高的自闭症特征，仍是一个有争议的问题。根据定义，绝对音高是一种不需要音与音之间的关系，而是基于比相对音高（涉及音之间、音程和旋律之间的关系）更低层次的感知实体的能力。本研究调查了一种从自闭症文献中借鉴的注重细节的认知风格（弱中央连贯性理论）是否可能提供一个框架来解释这种共同出现的现象。对31名具有绝对音高和33名具有相对音高的专业音乐家进行了两项视觉（分层构建的字母）和听觉（分层构建的旋律）的局部到整体实验，以及一项测量绝对音高能力的音高调整测试。分析揭示了实验条件（局部与整体，以及一致与不一致刺激）在反应时间、正确试验总数和速度-准确性综合得分方面的组间差异不一致。此外，还计算了整体形式对局部元素判断的干扰量以及反之亦然的干扰量。有趣的是，听觉中从整体到局部干扰的减少与更高的绝对音高能力相关，而在视觉中与更高的自闭症特征相关。结果部分符合绝对音高音乐家注重细节的认知风格的观点。结果的不一致可能是由于整体到局部范式在测量认知风格方面的局限性以及绝对音高拥有者的异质性。总之，本研究为绝对音高习得中各种潜在相互作用因素的多方面模式提供了进一步的证据。
