3 ms·
> One pivotal finding from such work is that birds perform surprisingly poorly on recognizing a melody shifted up or down in pitch. I used to assume that the m
by nescioquid 4y ago
> One pivotal finding from such work is that birds perform surprisingly poorly on recognizing a melody shifted up or down in pitch.
I used to assume that the more fundamental mode of pitch perception would be intervals (the difference between two pitches) rather than absolute pitch perception. It is largely the other way around, however, which makes sense -- interval perception is based in pitch perception and comparison.
As someone who envies those with absolute pitch, it is still surprising to me that this mode of perception is biologically more fundamental.
- HPsquared 4y agoAs I understand it the inner ear performs a Fourier transform such that each location within in corresponds to a frequency detected in the sound. That way, an interval or chord has a geometric shape plotted into the inner ear. The distance between detected points can be detected but not their absolute position. It's probably a bit like how the eye detects objects: you see points of light that have set positions relative to each other (shape and size of the object), not the "absolute" positions in your field of view.
- leephillips 4y agoThe absolute position is known to the brain; the mapping between locations on the basilar membrane and in the brain is called the tonotopic map. Why this information is only available to consciousness in some people is a mystery.