title: Absolute pitch is associated with a large auditory digit span: a clue to its genesis.
abstract: Auditory and visual digit span tests were administered to a group of absolute pitch (AP) possessors, and a group of AP nonpossessors matched for age, and for age of onset and duration of musical training. All subjects were speakers of English. The AP possessors substantially and significantly outperformed the nonpossessors on the auditory test, while the two groups did not differ significantly on the visual test. It is conjectured that a large auditory memory span, including memory for speech sounds, facilitates the development of associations between pitches and their verbal labels early in life, so promoting the acquisition of AP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ddeutsch@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dooley
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009146:Music; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult