The Statistical Structure of Human Speech Sounds Predicts Musical Universals

Schwartz, David; Howe, Catherine Q.; Purves, Dale

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.23-18-07160.2003

Cited by 139 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…One might envision that humans are born with preferences for harmonicity, or that they derive from exposure to natural sounds because of the prevalence of harmonic spectra in mammalian vocalizations (47), or that they derive from exposure to music (8). Our results leave each of these possibilities open, but indicate that the nature/nurture debate surrounding consonance should be oriented toward harmonicity rather than beating/ roughness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

The basis of musical consonance as revealed by congenital amusia

Cousineau

McDermott

Peretz

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

110

164

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Some combinations of musical notes sound pleasing and are termed "consonant," but others sound unpleasant and are termed "dissonant." The distinction between consonance and dissonance plays a central role in Western music, and its origins have posed one of the oldest and most debated problems in perception. In modern times, dissonance has been widely believed to be the product of "beating": interference between frequency components in the cochlea that has been believed to be more pronounced in dissonant than consonant sounds. However, harmonic frequency relations, a higher-order sound attribute closely related to pitch perception, has also been proposed to account for consonance. To tease apart theories of musical consonance, we tested sound preferences in individuals with congenital amusia, a neurogenetic disorder characterized by abnormal pitch perception. We assessed amusics' preferences for musical chords as well as for the isolated acoustic properties of beating and harmonicity. In contrast to control subjects, amusic listeners showed no preference for consonance, rating the pleasantness of consonant chords no higher than that of dissonant chords. Amusics also failed to exhibit the normally observed preference for harmonic over inharmonic tones, nor could they discriminate such tones from each other. Despite these abnormalities, amusics exhibited normal preferences and discrimination for stimuli with and without beating. This dissociation indicates that, contrary to classic theories, beating is unlikely to underlie consonance. Our results instead suggest the need to integrate harmonicity as a foundation of music preferences, and illustrate how amusia may be used to investigate normal auditory function. music perception | aesthetic preferences | roughness

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

The basis of musical consonance as revealed by congenital amusia

Cousineau

McDermott

Peretz

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

110

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A leading hypothesis for human consonance preference suggests that early (even prenatal) exposure to the harmonic-rich human voice, combined with the specific characteristics of the human vocal tract, provides an acquired "template" for musical attractiveness (4,38,39). Because hermit thrushes' notes, like those of most birdsong, lack strong harmonics (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overtone-based pitch selection in hermit thrush song: Unexpected convergence with scale construction in human music

Doolittle

Gingras

Endres

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Many human musical scales, including the diatonic major scale prevalent in Western music, are built partially or entirely from intervals (ratios between adjacent frequencies) corresponding to small-integer proportions drawn from the harmonic series. Scientists have long debated the extent to which principles of scale generation in human music are biologically or culturally determined. Data from animal "song" may provide new insights into this discussion. Here, by examining pitch relationships using both a simple linear regression model and a Bayesian generative model, we show that most songs of the hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) favor simple frequency ratios derived from the harmonic (or overtone) series. Furthermore, we show that this frequency selection results not from physical constraints governing peripheral production mechanisms but from active selection at a central level. These data provide the most rigorous empirical evidence to date of a bird song that makes use of the same mathematical principles that underlie Western and many non-Western musical scales, demonstrating surprising convergence between human and animal "song cultures." Although there is no evidence that the songs of most bird species follow the overtone series, our findings add to a small but growing body of research showing that a preference for small-integer frequency ratios is not unique to humans. These findings thus have important implications for current debates about the origins of human musical systems and may call for a reevaluation of existing theories of musical consonance based on specific human vocal characteristics. music | birdsong | overtones M any human musical scales, including the diatonic major scale prevalent in Western music, are built partially or entirely from intervals (ratios between adjacent frequencies) corresponding to small-integer ratios drawn from the harmonic series (1). A long-running debate concerns the extent to which principles underlying the structure of human musical scales derive from biological aspects of auditory perception and/or vocal production or are historical cultural "accidents" (2-4). The songs of nonhuman animals, such as birds or whales, potentially offer a valuable perspective on this debate. On the one hand, features of human music that are culturally bound, or dependent on specific characteristics of the human voice or auditory system, should be absent in animal vocalizations. On the other hand, aspects of human music observed in the vocalizations of other species seem likely to be partially determined by general physical or biological constraints rather than solely by cultural practices. Such shared features would complement recent research suggesting that common motor constraints shape both human song and that of some bird species (5).The physical principles underlying vocal production in songbirds are well understood (6-10) and do not differ fundamentally from those of other vertebrates. Sound is produced by tissue vibrations in the syrinx, a bird-specific organ located at the b...

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“…This allowed our subjects to engage spontaneously in normal everyday tasks outside of a laboratory setting. Just as many properties of sensory systems can be understood in terms of the statistics of their natural stimuli (Ruderman and Bialek 1994;Olshausen and Field 1996;Schwartz et al 2003;Körding et al 2004), we suggest that statistical analyses of the range of natural movements made during everyday life can contribute to our understanding of the motor system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The statistics of natural hand movements

et al. 2008

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Humans constantly use their hands to interact with the environment and they engage spontaneously in a wide variety of manual activities during everyday life. In contrast, laboratorybased studies of hand function have used a limited range of predefined tasks. The natural movements made by the hand during everyday life have thus received little attention. Here, we developed a portable recording device that can be worn by subjects to track movements of their right hand as they go about their daily routine outside of a laboratory setting. We analyse the kinematic data using various statistical methods. Principal component analysis of the joint angular velocities showed that the first two components were highly conserved across subjects, explained 60% of the variance and were qualitatively similar to those reported in previous studies of reachto-grasp movements. To examine the independence of the digits, we developed a measure based on the degree to which the movements of each digit could be linearly predicted from the movements of the other four digits. Our independence measure was highly correlated with results from previous studies of the hand, including the estimated size of the digit representations in primary motor cortex and other laboratory measures of digit individuation. Specifically, the thumb was found to be the most independent of the digits and the index finger was the most independent of the fingers. These results support and extend laboratory-based studies of the human hand.

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The Statistical Structure of Human Speech Sounds Predicts Musical Universals

Cited by 139 publications

References 38 publications

The basis of musical consonance as revealed by congenital amusia

The basis of musical consonance as revealed by congenital amusia

Overtone-based pitch selection in hermit thrush song: Unexpected convergence with scale construction in human music

The statistics of natural hand movements

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