Illusory conjunctions of pitch and duration in unfamiliar tone sequences.
In 3 experiments, the authors examined short-term memory for pitch and duration in unfamiliar tone sequences. Participants were presented a target sequence consisting of 2 tones (Experiment 1) or 7 tones (Experiments 2 and 3) and then a probe tone. Participants indicated whether the probe tone matched 1 of the target tones in both pitch and duration. Error rates were relatively low if the probe tone matched 1 of the target tones or if it differed from target tones in pitch, duration, or both. Error rates were remarkably high, however, if the probe tone combined the pitch of 1 target tone with the duration of a different target tone. The results suggest that illusory conjunctions of these dimensions frequently occur. A mathematical model is presented that accounts for the relative contribution of pitch errors, duration errors, and illusory conjunctions of pitch and duration.
Department of Psychology, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. billt@yorku.ca
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*