Effects of musical experience and training on pitch contour perception

This study examined the effects of musical experience and training on pitch contour perception among speakers of a non-tonal language. Fifteen musicians and fifteen non-musicians from various non-tonal language backgrounds were administered pitch contour categorial discrimination baseline task before and after a two-day pitch contour identification training. Although musicians were relatively more accurate than non-musicians in pitch contour identification, their pitch contour abstraction and categorization ability was comparable to that of non-musicians. Pitch contour identification training improved both pitch contour identification and pitch contour abstraction and categorization abilities to the same degree in musicians and non-musicians. In addition, the advantage of the rising pitch contour over the falling pitch contour was observed in both tasks and among both groups of participants. Together, these results suggest that musical experience sharpened the perception of pitch among musicians, but that the auditory systems of both groups are experience-dependent and comparably malleable.

Research Highlights
► We compared musicians and non-musicians on their ability to perceive pitch contours.
► We also explored the effects of laboratory training on pitch contour abstraction and categorization between the two groups.
► We found musicians to be superior to non-musicians in their ability to identify pitch contours, but their ability to abstract and categorize pitch contours are comparable to non-musicians.
► We also found that both musicians and non-musicians benefited equally from the training.