Dichotomy and perceptual distortions in absolute pitch ability

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 104; no. 37; pp. 14795 - 14800
• Main Authors: Athos, E. Alexandra, Levinson, Barbara, Kistler, Amy, Zemansky, Jason, Bostrom, Alan, Freimer, Nelson, Gitschier, Jane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 11.09.2007; National Acad Sciences
• Series: From the Cover
• Subjects: Absolute pitch; Accuracy; Acoustic Stimulation; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Age groups; Algorithms; Application programming interfaces; Biological Sciences; Child; Confidence interval; Ears & hearing; Female; Hearing Tests; Humans; Internet; magnetic materials; Magnets; Male; Music; Musical perception; neuroplasticity; Perceptual distortion; Pianos; Pitch Discrimination - physiology; Pitch perception; Polls & surveys; Sensory perception; Sound pitch; surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to identify the pitch of a tone without the aid of a reference tone. Understanding both the nature and genesis of AP can provide insights into neuroplasticity in the auditory system. We explored factors that may influence the accuracy of pitch perception in AP...