The Puzzle of Absolute Pitch Duration, So That It Extends to 1 the Age at Which the Child Can Diana Deutsch Begin Taking Music Lessons

200 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 2002 developmental psychology, and thus Note in infant attention: Are short lookers faster processors or feature processors? Child Devel- define a field of developmental opment, 62, 1247–1257. 1. Address correspondence to John cognitive neuroscience. Colombo, J., Mitchell, D.W., O’Brien, M., & Colombo, Department of Psychology, Horowitz, F.D. (1987). Stability of infant visual 426 Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd., habituation during the first year. Child Devel- University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS opment, 58, 474–489. Recommended Reading 66045-7535; e-mail: [email protected]. Colombo, J., Richman, W.A., Shaddy, D.J., Green- hoot, A.F., & Maikranz, J. (2001). HR-defined phases of attention, look duration, and infant Colombo, J. (2001). (See References) performance in the paired-comparison para- Hood, B.M. (1995). (See References) digm. Child Development, 72, 1605–1616. Johnson, M. (1997). Developmental References Frick, J.E., Colombo, J., & Saxon, T.F. (1999). Indi- cognitive neuroscience. Oxford, En- vidual and developmental differences in dis- gland: Oxford University Press. Colombo, J. (1995). On the neural mechanisms un- engagement of fixation in early infancy. Child Development, 70, 537–548. Richards, J.E. (Ed.). (1998). Cognitive derlying developmental and individual differences in infant fixation duration: Two hypotheses. Hood, B.M. (1995). Shifts of visual attention in the neuroscience of attention: A develop- Developmental Review, 15, 97–135. infant: A neuroscientific approach. In C. Rovee- mental perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Colombo, J. (2001). The development of visual at- Collier & L. Lipsitt (Eds.), Advances in infancy Erlbaum. tention in infancy. Annual Review of Psychology, research (Vol. 9, pp. 163–216). Norwood, NJ: Ruff, H.A., & Rothbart, M.K. (1996). 52, 337–367. Ablex. Attention in early development: Colombo, J., Harlan, J.E., & Mitchell, D.W. (1999, Jankowski, J.J., & Rose, S.A. (1997). The distribution of visual attention in infants. Journal of Ex- Variations and themes. Hillsdale, April). The development of look duration in infancy: Evidence for a triphasic course. Poster pre- perimental Child Psychology, 65, 127–140. NJ: Erlbaum. sented at the annual meeting of the Society for Jankowski, J.J., Rose, S.A., & Feldman, J.F. (2001). Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, Modifying the distribution of attention in in- NM. (Available at http://www.people.ku.edu/ fants. Child Development, 72, 339–351. ~colombo/SRCD99.htm) Johnson, M.H., Posner, M.I., & Rothbart, M.K. Acknowledgments—Preparation of this Colombo, J., & Janowsky, J.S. (1998). A cognitive (1991). Components of visual orienting in neuroscience approach to individual differ- early infancy: Contingency learning, anticipa- article was supported by Grant HD35903 ences in infant cognition. In J.E. Richards (Ed.), tory looking, and disengaging. Journal of Cog- from the National Institutes of Health. I Cognitive neuroscience of attention: A develop- nitive Neuroscience, 3, 335–344. am grateful to Wayne Mitchell, Marion mental perspective (pp. 363–392). Mahwah, NJ: Orlian, E.K., & Rose, S.A. (1997). Speed vs. thor- O’Brien, Frances Horowitz, and Janet Frick Erlbaum. oughness in infant visual information process- for their past contributions to this re- Colombo, J., & Mitchell, D.W. (1990). Individual ing. Infant Behavior and Development, 20, 371–381. search program, and to D. Jill Shaddy, W. and developmental differences in infant visual Richards, J.E., & Casey, B.J. (1990). Development Allen Richman, Julie Maikranz, Otilia attention. In J. Colombo & J.W. Fagen (Eds.), of sustained visual attention in the human in- Blaga, Christa Anderson, and Kathleen Individual differences in infancy (pp. 193–227). fant. In B.A. Campbell, H. Hayne, & R. Rich- Kannass for their contributions to our Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. ardson (Eds.), Attention and information current program of work. Colombo, J., Mitchell, D.W., Coldren, J.T., & processing in infants and adults (pp. 30–60). Freeseman, L.J. (1991). Individual differences Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

The Puzzle of Absolute Pitch duration, so that it extends to 1 the age at which the child can Diana Deutsch begin taking music lessons. Ac- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California cording to this line of reason- ing, the potential for acquiring absolute pitch is universal at birth, and can be realized by Abstract may have evolved as a feature giving the infant the opportu- Absolute pitch—the ability of speech, analogous to other nity to associate pitches with to name or produce a note of features such as vowel quality. verbal labels during the 1st particular pitch in the absence It is also conjectured that tone- year or so of life. of a reference note—is gener- language speakers generally ac- ally considered to be extremely quire this feature during the Keywords rare. However, it has been found 1st year of life, in the critical pitch; music; speech that native speakers of two dif- period when infants acquire ferent tone languages—Manda- other features of their native In May of 1763, just before the rin and Vietnamese—display a language. For speakers of non- Mozart family set off on their fa- remarkably precise form of ab- tone languages, the acquisition mous tour of Europe, an anony- solute pitch in enunciating of absolute pitch by rare indi- mous letter was sent from Vienna words. Given these findings, it viduals may be associated with to Augsburg, detailing some of is proposed that absolute pitch a critical period of unusually long 7-year-old Wolfgang’s remarkable

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CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 201

accomplishments. The letter in- task so difficult. When we identify training at or after age 9 did so. cluded the following passage: a color as red, we do not do so by These findings point to a critical comparing it with another color period for the development of ab- I saw and heard how, when he was and then evaluating the relation- solute pitch, analogous to (and made to listen in another room, they ship between the two. The labeling possibly parallel with) the critical would give him notes, now high, now process is much more direct. A lack period during which infants and low, not only on the pianoforte but on of absolute pitch therefore appears young children acquire the speech every other imaginable instrument as to be somewhat analogous to the sounds of their native language well, and he came out with the letter of rare syndrome of color anomia, in (Jusczyk, Friederici, Wessels, Sven- the name of the note in an instant. In- which the patient can recognize kerud, & Jusczyk, 1993). deed, on hearing a bell toll or a clock, even a pocket-watch, strike, he was that two objects are of the same On the other hand, the involve- able at the same moment to name the color, and can discriminate be- ment of a critical period may be note of the bell or time piece. (Augsbur- tween different colors, but simply only part of the picture. Baharloo et gischer Intelligenz-Zettel, 1763, cited in cannot label them. So the real puz- al. (1998) pointed out that most of E.O. Deutsch, 1990, p. 21) zle concerning absolute pitch is not their subjects who had begun taking why some people possess it, but music lessons at or before 6 years of It is clear from this description rather why it is so rare. age did not possess this faculty. In- that the young Mozart had abso- deed, there is some evidence that a lute pitch, otherwise known as per- genetic, and so innate, predisposi- fect pitch—a faculty that has been tion is also involved (Baharloo et al., estimated to occur in less than one THE GENESIS OF 1998; Profita & Bidder, 1988). Fur- in ten thousand in our population. ABSOLUTE PITCH ther evidence for the role of innate For people with absolute pitch, factors was provided by Schlaug, naming a note is as simple and im- What do we know about the Jancke, Huang, and Steinmetz mediate as, for example, identify- genesis of absolute pitch? Some in- (1995), who observed that musicians ing an object’s color as red. Yet for vestigators have suggested that it with absolute pitch tend to have an most people, absolute pitch seems is acquired through learning. On unusual form of brain structure in- a mysterious and extraordinary gift— the basis of this assumption, a volving the planum temporale, an something that must surely be very number of researchers developed area in the temporal lobe that is crit- difficult, or take some exceptional programs to train people to acquire ical to speech processing. This re- talent, to acquire. This impression it (see Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993, for gion is usually larger on the left side is reinforced by the fact that most a review). What was most note- of the brain than on the right, and famous composers and perform- worthy about these programs was Schlaug et al. found that this left- ers—including Beethoven, Bach, their lack of success—people la- ward asymmetry, which emerges Handel, Chopin, Toscanini, Solti, bored for many months to achieve before birth, is greater among musi- Heifetz, Menuhin, Rubenstein, and absolute pitch, often without suc- cians with absolute pitch than others—were known to possess ceeding, and even when they were among other individuals. this faculty. fairly successful, their perceptions The ability to judge one note in did not have the immediacy and relation to another—known as rel- effortlessness of the perceptions of ative pitch—is very common. Mu- individuals who naturally possess sicians have no difficulty in nam- this faculty. IMPLICIT ABSOLUTE PITCH ing notes if they are first given a There is considerable evidence reference note. For example, if they that in order to acquire absolute However, the intriguing ques- are played the note C and given its pitch, the individual must have been tion still remains as to why abso- name, they can easily identify the exposed to musical notes and their lute pitch appears to be so rare. note a whole tone higher as D, the names very early in life. For exam- Many nonhuman species, such as note two whole tones higher as E, ple, in a study of more than 600 songbirds, display absolute pitch and so on. What most people, in- musicians, Baharloo, Johnston, Ser- (see, e.g., Njegovan, Ito, Mewhort, cluding most musicians, cannot do vice, Gitschier, and Freimer (1998) & Weisman, 1995; Takeuchi & is name a note that is presented in found that 40% of those who had Hulse, 1993), and it appears un- isolation. started taking music lessons at or likely on general grounds that hu- As someone who has absolute before age 4 reported having abso- mans would not employ this sim- pitch, I have always found it strange lute pitch, whereas only 3% of ple feature of sound for the purpose that most people find this labeling those who had started musical of communication. Indeed, a num-

202 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 2002 ber of studies have shown that have stored in memory? The an- most people do in fact possess an swer might be found in tone lan- implicit form of absolute pitch, guages. In Mandarin, for example, even though they are unable to la- a word takes on an entirely differ- bel notes directly. One body of evi- ent meaning depending on the tone dence involves a musical illusion in which it is enunciated—with a called the tritone paradox (D. tone being defined both by its pitch Deutsch, 1991). To generate this il- contour and by its absolute pitch lusion, two computer-produced tones level. Pitches are therefore used to that are related by a half-octave (or create verbal features, analogous to tritone) are played in succession. consonants and vowels. So, for ex- The tones are so constructed that ample, when a speaker of Manda- their note names are clearly de- rin identifies the meaning of ma as fined, but they are in principle am- Fig. 1. The pitch-class circle. The scale “mother” when it is spoken in the biguous in terms of which octave in traditional Western music is pro- first tone, or as “hemp” when it is they are in. When one of these tone duced by dividing the octave into 12 spoken in the second tone, he or pairs is played (say, C followed by semitone steps, and each tone is given she is associating a particular pitch a name: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, F#), some listeners hear an ascend- A#, and B. The entire scale, as it as- (or combination of pitches) with a ing pattern, whereas other listeners cends in height, is produced by repeat- verbal label. Analogously, when a hear a descending pattern instead. ing this succession of note names (or person with absolute pitch identi- Yet when a different tone pair is pitch classes) across octaves. People with fies the sound of the note C# as played (say, G# followed by D), the absolute pitch are able to name the “C#,” or the note D as “D,” he or pitch of a note when it is presented in first group of listeners hears a de- isolation; this ability is considered very she is also associating a pitch with scending pattern, while the second rare. a verbal label. group of listeners hears an ascend- Supposing, then, that absolute ing one. pitch is used in tone languages to More specifically, we can think Halpern (1989) found that musi- distinguish between the different of the 12 tones within the octave cally untrained subjects were quite meanings of a word, we should ex- (known as pitch classes) as ar- consistent in their choices of pect speakers of these languages to ranged in a circle, as in Figure 1. pitches when they were asked to be very consistent from one day to Most people, in making judgments hum the first notes of well-known another in the pitches in which of the tritone paradox, place tones songs on different occasions. Lev- they enunciate words. To examine in one region of the pitch-class cir- itin (1994) had subjects sing two this prediction, Henthorn, Dolson, cle as higher, and tones in the op- popular songs, and he compared and I (D. Deutsch, Henthorn, & posite region as lower. However, their productions with the pitches Dolson, 1999) tested 7 native speak- the orientation of the pitch-class that were used in the songs’ re- ers of Vietnamese. Each subject circle with respect to height differs cordings. He found that 44% of the served in two sessions, which were from one listener to another. Fur- subjects came within two semi- held on different days. In each ses- thermore, listeners’ judgments re- tones of the correct pitch for both sion, the subject was handed the flect a systematic relationship be- songs. So he concluded that abso- same list of 10 Vietnamese words tween pitch class and perceived lute pitch has two components: (a) to read out loud one time. The list height (D. Deutsch, 1991) showing long-term pitch memory, which is spanned the range of tones in Viet- that they must be employing some widespread, and (b) the ability to namese speech. form of absolute pitch in making label pitches, which is rare. The speech samples were en- these judgments. tered into computer memory, and There is further evidence that an average pitch for each word was absolute pitch, at least in partial determined. We then calculated, form, is more prevalent than was TONE LANGUAGES for each subject, the difference be- traditionally assumed. Terhardt and tween the average pitch for each Seewann (1983) observed that mu- So why, then, do most people in word on Day 1 and Day 2, and we sicians who lacked absolute pitch our society have stable long-term averaged these differences across were nevertheless able to judge to memories for the absolute pitches the words in the list. The results some extent whether or not a pas- of tones, even though they are un- showed extraordinary consisten- sage was played in the correct key. able to label the pitches that they cies: All 7 subjects produced aver-

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CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 203 aged pitch differences of less than which infants acquire other features More generally, I am proposing 1.1 semitone, and 4 of the 7 subjects of speech (Jusczyk et al., 1993). In- that absolute pitch, which has tra- produced averaged pitch differ- deed, Saffran and Griepentrog ditionally been viewed as a musi- ences of less than 0.5 semitone. (2001) showed that infants are able cal faculty, originally evolved to In a second experiment, we em- to remember absolute pitches, by subserve speech. As a corollary, I ployed 15 Mandarin speakers as sub- demonstrating that 8-month-old in- am also proposing that absolute jects, and we used a list of words fants could perform a perceptual pitch for speech and absolute pitch that spanned all four tones in Man- learning task that necessitated re- for music share common brain darin speech. Each subject again ferring to the absolute pitches of tones. mechanisms. This suggestion con- participated in two sessions that Why, then, do some rare indi- trasts with the view that has domi- were held on different days, but in viduals in the United States pos- nated thinking for decades, that the this case he or she recited the word sess absolute pitch, even though brain mechanisms subserving mu- list twice in each session, the read- they have not been given the op- sic and speech are distinct and sep- ings being separated by roughly portunity to associate pitches with arate. The findings and theoretical 20 s. We calculated four sets of dif- verbal labels during the critical pe- framework presented here lead to ference scores: between the first read- riod for speech acquisition? Per- an additional question: What other ings on Day 1 and Day 2, between haps for such individuals, this criti- linkages between speech and mu- the second readings on Day 1 and cal period is of longer duration, sic exist, though they have not yet Day 2, between the first and second and extends to the age at which it is been identified? The uncovering of readings on Day 1, and between the feasible for them to begin taking such linkages would be of consid- first and second readings on Day 2. music lessons. Such a predisposi- erable importance to understand- We again found remarkable tion for an extended critical period ing the evolutionary bases of these consistencies. For all comparisons, might be genetically determined, two forms of communication. half of the subjects produced aver- and might also be associated with aged pitch differences of less than differences in brain organization Recommended Reading 0.5 semitone, and one third of the (Schlaug et al., 1995). subjects produced averaged pitch Deutsch, D. (1992). Paradoxes of mu- differences of less than 0.25 semi- sical pitch. Scientific American, 267, 88–95. tone. Furthermore, statistical anal- Deutsch, D. (Ed.). (1999). The psychol- yses found no significant differences ogy of music (2nd ed.). San Diego, in the degree of pitch consistency CONCLUSION CA: Academic Press. that occurred in reciting the word Wallin, N.L., Merker, B., & Brown, S. list on different days, compared Given the framework presented (Eds.). (2000). The origins of music. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. with reciting it twice in immediate here, many issues remain to be ex- succession. We concluded that al- plored. For example, psychologists though the pitch discrepancies we do not know whether absolute found were remarkably small, they pitch that is initially acquired for Note nevertheless underestimated the speech later generalizes to musical 1. Address correspondence to Diana precision of the subjects’ absolute tones, though there is some evidence Deutsch, Department of Psychology, pitch templates. that this may be the case (see, e.g., University of California, San Diego, La This study indicates that speak- Gregersen, Kowalsky, Kohn, & Jolla, CA 92093; e-mail: ddeutsch@ucsd. ers of Vietnamese and Mandarin Marvin, 1999). If such generaliza- edu. possess an extraordinarily precise tion does occur, absolute pitch for form of absolute pitch that they music, although rare in the United employ in the enunciation of words States, would be quite prevalent in References in their native language. The re- countries where tone languages are Baharloo, S., Johnston, P.A., Service, S.K., sults suggest that absolute pitch spoken. To this end, my colleagues Gitschier, J., & Freimer, N.B. (1998). Absolute pitch: An approach for identification of genetic may have evolved as a feature of and I are in the initial stages of car- and nongenetic components. American Journal speech, analogous to other features rying out a study comparing the of Human Genetics, 62, 224–231. such as vowel quality (see also prevalence of absolute pitch among Brown, S. (2000). The ‘Musilanguage’ model of music evolution. In N.L. Wallin, B. Merker, & Brown, 2000). One may further hy- music students in China and the S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 271– pothesize that this feature is gener- United States, controlling for fac- 300). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Deutsch, D. (1991). The tritone paradox: An influ- ally acquired during the 1st year of tors such as age of onset of musical ence of language on music perception. Music life, during the critical period in training. Perception, 8, 335–347.

204 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 2002

Deutsch, D., Henthorn, T., & Dolson, M. (1999). Jusczyk, P.W., Friederici, A.D., Wessels, J., Sven- Profita, J., & Bidder, T.G. (1988). Perfect pitch. Amer- Absolute pitch is demonstrated in speakers of kerud, V.Y., & Jusczyk, A.M. (1993). Infants’ ican Journal of Medical Genetics, 29, 763–771. tone languages. Journal of the Acoustical Society sensitivity to sound patterns of native lan- Saffran, J.R., & Griepentrog, G.J. (2001). Absolute of America, 106, 2267. guage words. Journal of Memory and Language, pitch in infant auditory learning: Evidence for Deutsch, E.O. (1990). Mozart: A documentary biogra- 32, 402–420. developmental reorganization. Developmental phy (3rd ed.). London: Simon and Schuster. Psychology, 37, 74–85. Levitin, D. (1994). Absolute memory for musical Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., & Steinmetz, H. Gregersen, P.K., Kowalsky, E., Kohn, N., & Mar- pitch: Evidence for the production of learned (1995). In vivo evidence of structural brain vin, E.W. (1999). Absolute pitch: Prevalence, melodies. Perception & Psychophysics, 56, 414–423. ethnic variation, and estimation of the genetic asymmetry in musicians. Science, 267, 699–701. component. American Journal of Human Genet- Njegovan, M., Ito, S., Mewhort, D., & Weisman, R. Takeuchi, A.H., & Hulse, S.H. (1993). Absolute ics, 65, 911–913. (1995). Classification of frequencies into pitch. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 345–361. Halpern, A.R. (1989). Memory for the absolute ranges by songbirds and humans. Journal of Terhardt, E., & Seewann, M. (1983). Aural key pitch of familiar songs. Memory & Cognition, Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Pro- identification and its relationship to absolute 17, 572–581. cesses, 21, 33–42. pitch. Music Perception, 1, 63–83.

at regardless of whether it is actu- Illusory Causation in the Courtroom ally the one moving. G. Daniel Lassiter1 This phenomenon, referred to as illusory causation (McArthur, Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 1980), is not limited to cases involv- ing interactions among simple physical objects. Research indicates Abstract mock jurors to judge that the that it affects people’s causal attri- A large body of evidence in- confessions were more volun- butions for more complex social indicates that people attribute tary and, most important, that teractions as well. In the first sys- unwarranted causality (influ- the suspects are more likely to tematic demonstration of illusory ence) to a stimulus simply be- be guilty. Because actual crimi- causation in the social domain, cause it is more noticeable or nal interrogations are custom- Taylor and Fiske (1975) had ob- salient than other available arily videotaped with the servers view a casual, two-person stimuli. This article reviews camera lens zeroed in on the conversation. The vantage point of recent research demonstrating suspect, these findings are of the observers was varied by seat- that this illusory-causation phe- considerable practical signifi- ing them in different locations nomenon can produce serious cance. around the two interactants. After prejudicial effects with regard the conversation ended, observers to how people evaluate certain rated each interactant in terms of types of legal evidence. Keywords the amount of causal influence he Specifically, evaluations of illusory causation; videotaped or she exerted during the ex- videotaped confessions can be confessions; bias change. The results revealed that significantly altered by presum- greater causality was attributed to ably inconsequential changes whichever person observers hap- in the camera perspective pened to be facing, which, of taken when the confessions are In 1935, Koffka noted that objects course, was determined by their initially recorded. Videotaped that stand out in our visual field, or seating position—an entirely inci- confessions recorded with the are the focus of our attention, are dental factor that logically should camera focused on the sus- more likely than less conspicuous have had no bearing on their pect—compared with video- objects to be judged the originators causal judgments. tapes from other camera points of a physical event, even when there Misidentifying which of multi- of view (e.g., focused equally is no objective basis for such a con- ple points of light is moving in a on the suspect and interroga- clusion. For example, when placed darkened room, or even overesti- tor) or with more traditional in a darkened room, people judge mating the causal influence of a presentation formats (i.e., tran- that a widening gap between two particular participant in a “getting scripts and audiotapes)—lead pinpoints of light is caused by the acquainted” interaction, I daresay, one that they happen to be looking is not an error in judgment that is

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