RESPONSIVENESS OF WESTERN ADULTS TO PITCH-DISTRIBUTIONAL INFORMATION IN MELODIC SEQUENCES

Responsiveness of musically trained and untrained adults to pitch-dist ributional information in melodic contexts was assessed. In Experiment 1, melodic contexts were pure-tone sequences, generated from either a diatonic or one of four nondiatonic tonesets, in which pitch-distribu tional information was manipulated by variation of the relative freque ncy of occurrence of tones from the toneset. Both the assignment of re lative frequency of occurrence to tones and the construction of the (f ixed) temporal order of tones within the sequences contravened the con ventions of western tonal music. A probe-tone technique was employed. Each presentation of a sequence was followed by a probe tone, one of t he 12 chromatic notes within the octave. Listeners rated the goodness of musical fit of the probe tone to the sequence. Probe-tone ratings w ere significantly related to frequency of occurrence of the probe tone in the sequence for both trained and untrained listeners. In addition , probe-tone ratings decreased as the pitch distance between the probe tone and the final tone of the sequence increased. For musically trai ned listeners, probe-tone ratings for diatonic sequences tended also t o reflect the influence of an internalized tonal schema. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the temporal location of tones in the sequences coul d not alone account for the effect of frequency of occurrence in Exper iment 1. Experiment 3 tested musically untrained listeners under the c onditions of Experiment 1, with the exception that the temporal order of tones in each sequence was randomized across trials. The effect of frequency of occurrence found in Experiment 1 was replicated and stren gthened.