The Octave-Percept or Concept

Abstract

Fifty-four children aged between four years and nine years were given a pitch task in which they were presented with an array of five tone bars differing in pitch within an octave range. They were then given a further bar which was pitched at the octave of one of the bars of the array, and asked to choose which of the five "sounded most like" their 6th matcher bar. Three categories of response to the task were possible: judged similarity on the basis of:

(i) Proximity of pitch (tone height).

(ii) Octaveness (tone chroma).

(iii) Neither of these (which would be interpreted as no perceived similarity).

Results showed a significant tendency for tonal similarity to be judged as proximity of pitch.

In a second experiment, the probability of judgement on the basis of pitch proximity was reduced by providing an array in which the five tones were clustered closely together in pitch. Of 108 trials, only 15 selections of two tones at the 8ve were observed. In a third experiment, an array of five tone bars was presented. Subjects were given a further five bars, being the same pitches as the array removed by an 8ve, and were asked to arrange their bars so that "they played the same tune" as the array. Although a small number of children completed the task with promptness and confidence, no significant ability to solve this octave transposition task was observed.

It is therefore concluded that a concept of "octaveness" is developed experientially, and is not of perceptual origin.