4 ms·
This is a bit disappointing. If I understand correctly they only gathered some evidence that it is not due to beating (interference.) So we still don't even kno
by praptak 14y ago
This is a bit disappointing. If I understand correctly they only gathered some evidence that it is not due to beating (interference.) So we still don't even know whether it's prewired or learned. The fact that you can learn to like dissonance tells us little - you can also learn to like some kinds of bitter taste and dislike for bitter is prewired.
- ananyob 14y agoThat's underselling it a bit, I think? They've ruled out the dominant hypothesis with their experiment (beating/roughness) and propose another - harmony of overtones. Quite clever to do the experiment with people with amusia. Wonder if this has anything to say about the old CD versus vinyl debate? Or was that nonsense anyway?
- pygy_ 14y agoThe beating/roughness couldn't have explained the dissonance of the tritone (C to F# for example). The harmony of overtones doesn't come as a surprise for people familiar with sound synthesis, but I suppose that it had never been rigorously tested...