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Articulatory motor planning and timbral idiosyncrasies as underlying mechanisms of instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert musicians

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  • Niels Chr Hansen
  • Lindsey Reymore

Abstract

The study of musical expertise illustrates how intense training in a specialized domain may instigate development of implicit skills. While absolute pitch, or the ability to identify musical pitches without external reference, is rare even in professional musicians and is understood to have a genetic component, anecdotal evidence and pilot data suggest that some musicians without traditional absolute pitch are nonetheless better able to name notes played on their musical instrument of expertise than notes played on less familiar instruments. We have previously termed this particular gain in absolute pitch identification ability “instrument-specific absolute pitch” (ISAP) and have proposed that this skill is related to learned instrument type-specific timbral and intonational idiosyncrasies and articulatory motor planning activated by the timbre of the instrument. In this Registered Report Protocol, we describe two experiments designed to investigate ISAP in professional oboists. Experiment 1 tests for ISAP ability by comparing oboists’ pitch identification accuracies for notes played on the oboe and on the piano. A subset of the participants from Experiment 1 who demonstrate this ability will be recruited for Experiment 2; the purpose of Experiment 2 is to test hypotheses concerning a mechanistic explanation for ISAP. The outcome of these experiments may provide support for the theory that some individuals have ISAP and that the underlying mechanisms of this ability may rely on the perception of subtle timbral/intonational idiosyncrasies and on articulatory motor planning developed through intensive long-term training. In general, this work will contribute to the understanding of specialized expertise, specifically of implicit abilities and biases that are not addressed directly in training, but that may yet develop through practice of a related skill set.

Suggested Citation

  • Niels Chr Hansen & Lindsey Reymore, 2021. "Articulatory motor planning and timbral idiosyncrasies as underlying mechanisms of instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert musicians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-22, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0247136
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247136
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Patrícia Vanzella & E Glenn Schellenberg, 2010. "Absolute Pitch: Effects of Timbre on Note-Naming Ability," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(11), pages 1-7, November.
    2. Stephen C Van Hedger & Shannon L M Heald & Howard C Nusbaum, 2019. "Absolute pitch can be learned by some adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Niels Chr Hansen & Peter Vuust & Marcus Pearce, 2016. ""If You Have to Ask, You'll Never Know": Effects of Specialised Stylistic Expertise on Predictive Processing of Music," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Bates, Douglas & Mächler, Martin & Bolker, Ben & Walker, Steve, 2015. "Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 67(i01).
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