Relative pitch perception in Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata).
To investigate whether monkeys perceive relative pitch, the author trained 3 Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) to detect changes from rising to falling contours of 3-tone sequences. Tone sequences were presented serially with transposition, so monkeys were urged to attend to cues other than the absolute frequency of a component tone. Results from probe tests with novel sequences showed that monkeys discriminated by the relative pitch when the frequency ranges of sequences were within the training range, showing a similar tendency as birds in previous studies (e.g., S. H. Hulse, J. Cynx, & J. Humpal, 1984).
Izumi
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Department of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan. aizumi@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D008251:Macaca / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D010898:Pitch Perception