title: Cross-cultural perspectives on pitch memory.
abstract: We examined effects of age and culture on children's memory for the pitch level of familiar music. Canadian 9- and 10-year-olds distinguished the original pitch level of familiar television theme songs from foils that were pitch-shifted by one semitone, whereas 5- to 8-year-olds failed to do so (Experiment 1). In contrast, Japanese 5- and 6-year-olds distinguished the pitch-shifted foils from the originals, performing significantly better than same-age Canadian children (Experiment 2). Moreover, Japanese 6-year-olds were more accurate than their 5-year-old counterparts. These findings challenge the prevailing view of enhanced pitch memory during early life. We consider factors that may account for Japanese children's superior performance such as their use of a pitch accent language (Japanese) rather than a stress accent language (English) and their experience with musical pitch labels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sandra E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Trehub
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Glenn Schellenberg
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakata
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009146:Music; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D013067:Speech Perception