title: The mental space of pitch height.
abstract: Through stimulus-response compatibility we tested whether sound frequency (pitch height) elicits a mental spatial representation. Musically untrained and, mostly, trained participants were shown a stimulus-response compatibility effect (Spatial-Musical Association of Response Codes or SMARC effect). When response alternatives were either vertically or horizontally aligned, performance was better when the lower (or leftward) button had to be pressed in response to a low sound and the upper (or rightward) button had to be pressed in response to a high sound, even when pitch height was irrelevant to the task.
authors.affiliation: University College London, London, UK. e.rusconi@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rusconi
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Umiltà
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Butterworth
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008606:Mental Processes; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009146:Music; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013016:Sound; D013028:Space Perception