NATURAL MUSICAL INTERVALS - EVIDENCE FROM INFANT LISTENERS

Ancient and medieval scholars considered tones, elated by simple (smal l-integer) ratios to be naturally pleasing, bur contemporary scholars attribute the special perceptual status of such sounds to exposure. We investigated the possibility of processing predispositions for some t one combinations by evaluating infants' ability to detect subtle chang es to patterns of simultaneous and sequential tones. Infants detected such changes to pairs of pure tones (intervals) only when the tones we re related by simple frequency ratios. This was the case for 9-month-o ld infants tested with harmonic (simultaneous) intervals and for 6-mon th-old infants tested with melodic (sequential) intervals. These resul ts are consistent with a biological basis for the prevalence of partic ular intervals historically and cross-culturally.