title: Auditory global-local processing: effects of attention and musical experience.
abstract: In vision, global (whole) features are typically processed before local (detail) features ("global precedence effect"). However, the distinction between global and local processing is less clear in the auditory domain. The aims of the present study were to investigate: (i) the effects of directed versus divided attention, and (ii) the effect musical training on auditory global-local processing in 16 adult musicians and 16 non-musicians. Participants were presented with short nine-tone melodies, each comprised of three triplet sequences (three-tone units). In a "directed attention" task, participants were asked to focus on either the global or local pitch pattern and had to determine if the pitch pattern went up or down. In a "divided attention" task, participants judged whether the target pattern (up or down) was present or absent. Overall, global structure was perceived faster and more accurately than local structure. The global precedence effect was observed regardless of whether attention was directed to a specific level or divided between levels. Musicians performed more accurately than non-musicians overall, but non-musicians showed a more pronounced global advantage. This study provides evidence for an auditory global precedence effect across attention tasks, and for differences in auditory global-local processing associated with musical experience.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, 4060 Sainte Catherine West, room 322, Montréal, Québec H3Z 2Z3, Canada. ouimet.to@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ouimet
authors.forename: Nicholas E V
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Krista L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hyde
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D001299:Audiometry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011930:Reaction Time; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors