Abstract
Musically knowledgeable listeners heard auditory patterns based on sets of six (Study 1) or eight tones (Study 2). In the first study, listeners ordered events from patterns generated by hierarchical rule trees and which possessed different pitch space and time structures: one type (nondistance nested) was more likely to produce auditory streaming than the other (distance nested). In the second study, different listeners reconstructed pitch intervals contained in one of eight patterns. Patterns differed according to (1) levels of pitch distance occur), (2) levels of pattern contour (two), and (3) rate (two). In both studies, fast patterns with many large pitch distances were more difficult to recollect. Listeners in the second study telided to “telescope” pitch distances. Most difficult were those rapid sequences with large patch intervals combined into a changing contour (nondistance nested); these patterns streamed. A third study replicated effects due to differences in pitch distances observed in Study 2. Results were interpreted in terms of a rhythmic theory of memory.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bregman, A. S., &Campbell, J. Primary auditory stream segregation and perception of order in rapid sequences of tones.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1971,89. 244–249.
Dannenbring, G. L., &Bregman, A. S. Stream segregation and the illusion of overlap.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1976,2, 544–555.
Dowling, W. J. The perception of interleaved melodies.Cognitive Psychology, 1973,5, 322–337.
Greeno, J. G., &Simon, H. A. Processes for sequence production.Psychological Review, 1974,81, 187–197.
Heise, G. A., &Miller, G. A. An experimental study of auditory patterns.American Journal of Psychology, 1951,64, 68–77.
Jones, M. R. Cognitive representations of serial patterns. In B. Kantowitz (Ed.),Human information processing: Tutorials in performance and cognition. Potomac, Md: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1974.
Jones, M. R. Levels of structure in the reconstruction of temporal and spatial serial patterns.Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Learning and Memory, 1976,2, 475–488. (a)
Jones, M. R. Time, our lost dimension: Toward a new theory of perception, attention, and memory.Psychological Review, 1976,83, 323–345. (b)
Jones, M. R. Auditory patterns: The perceiving organism. In E. C. Carterette & M. P. Friedman (Eds.),Handbook of perception (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press, in press.
Kotovsky, K., &Simon, H. A. Empirical tests of a theory of human acquisition of concepts for sequential patterns.Cogmtive Psychology, 1973,4, 399–424.
Miller, G. A., &Heise, G. A. The trill threshold.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1950,22, 637–638.
Restle, F. Theory of serial pattern learning: Structural trees.Psychological Review, 1970,77, 481–495.
Restle, F. Structural ambiguity in serial pattern learning.Cognittve Psychology, 1976,8, 357–381.
Simon, H. A. Complexity and the representation of patterned sequences of symbols.Psychology Review, 1972,79, 369–382.
van Noorden, L. P. A. S. Temporal coherence in the perception of tone sequences. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, 1975.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This article was prepared with the support of National Science Foundation Grant BMS 74-21492.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, M.R., Maser, D.J. & Kidd, G.R. Rate and structure in memory for auditory patterns. Memory & Cognition 6, 246–258 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197453
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197453