MEMORY FOR MUSICAL TEMPO - ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE THAT AUDITORY MEMORY IS ABSOLUTE

We report evidence that long-term memory retains absolute (accurate) f eatures of perceptual events. Specifically, we show that memory for mu sic seems to preserve the absolute tempo of the musical performance. I n Experiment 1, 46 subjects sang two different popular songs from memo ry, and their tempos were compared with recorded versions of the,songs . Seventy-two percent of the productions on two consecutive trials cam e within 8% of the actual tempo, demonstrating accuracy near the perce ptual threshold (JND) for tempo. In Experiment 2, a control experiment , we found that folk songs lacking a tempo standard generally have a l arge variability in tempo; this counters arguments that memory for the tempo of remembered songs is driven by articulatory constraints. The relevance of the present findings to theories of perceptual memory and memory for music is discussed.