Stilp Christian E, Adames Isabel, Shorey Anya E
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 18;20(7):e0328490. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328490. eCollection 2025.
Previous studies have established that musical pitch and timbre (specifically, spectral shape) perceptually covary: lower pitches are associated with darker timbres (less higher-frequency energy) and higher pitches are associated with brighter timbres (more higher-frequency energy). In four experiments, perceptual sensitivity to this relationship was assessed in pitch labeling tasks when instrument timbre varied in ways that respected or violated this pattern (Consistent or Reversed trials). Performance was influenced by context at multiple timescales: block-level (stimulus type), experimental session-level (block order or configuration), and longer-term experience (musical training background). Across experiments, participants performed near ceiling accuracy for Consistent stimuli, but were less accurate for Reversed stimuli. This pattern was moderated by which condition was tested first in the experiment, the introduction of trial-by-trial feedback, and presentation of trials in blocked versus interleaved orders. Higher musical training scores were generally associated with higher accuracy on Consistent trials but were more reliably and more strongly associated with higher accuracy on Reversed trials. Thus, context on multiple timescales can shape perceptual sensitivity to the natural covariance between musical pitch and timbre. Results advance the efficient coding hypothesis by demonstrating how listener factors can modulate perceptual sensitivity to statistical structure in the acoustic environment.
先前的研究已经证实，音高和音色（具体而言，频谱形状）在感知上是协同变化的：较低的音高与较暗的音色（高频能量较少）相关联，而较高的音高与较亮的音色（高频能量较多）相关联。在四项实验中，当乐器音色以符合或违背这种模式的方式变化时（一致或反转试验），在音高标注任务中评估了对这种关系的感知敏感性。表现受到多个时间尺度的背景影响：块级（刺激类型）、实验会话级（块顺序或配置）以及长期经验（音乐训练背景）。在所有实验中，参与者对一致刺激的表现接近天花板精度，但对反转刺激的准确性较低。这种模式受到实验中首先测试的条件、逐次试验反馈的引入以及试验以分块或交错顺序呈现的影响。较高的音乐训练分数通常与一致试验中的较高准确性相关，但在反转试验中与较高准确性的关联更可靠且更强。因此，多个时间尺度的背景可以塑造对音高和音色之间自然协方差的感知敏感性。研究结果通过展示听众因素如何调节对声学环境中统计结构的感知敏感性，推进了高效编码假说。
