Vocal Melody: Developmental perspectives on perception and memory

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The present research is concerned with vocal melody in music and speech, especially its effect on perception and memory. Although the voice is the oldest and most widely used musical instrument, it is rarely used in studies of music cognition. However, we recently found that adults remembered melodies better when sung to the syllable "la" than when presented instrumentally. An important goal of the proposed research is to ascertain the factors that underlie the vocal advantage and the generality of this advantage across age and background. We will determine whether experienced musicians have instrument-specific as well as vocal advantages. Because of autistic individuals' diminished brain and behavioral responses to voices, vocal presentation may have no consequences or adverse consequences on memory for melodies. Age-related changes in the salience of the voice may generate differential consequences of vocal and instrumental presentation. We have developed suitable adaptations of the adult memory-for-melody task for use with infants, preschoolers, school-age children, and special populations. We demonstrated that adults remember melodies better when presented vocally rather than instrumentally, but others demonstrated less precise pitch perception for isolated vocal tones than for instrumental tones. We will document age-related changes in the detection of pitch deviations in familiar melodies sung with words, sung to"la" or presented instrumentally. Interfering effects of words are likely to be greater at younger ages. Melodies are also relevant to speech processing. Some statements (It's raining.) and questions (It's raining?) are distinguished primarily by their melodic patterns or intonation. We will explore age-related changes in the identification of statements and questions from melodic patterns in adult- and child-directed styles of speech. Findings of the proposed research may necessitate revised assumptions and practices in studies of music cognition. The findings will also shed light on factors that influence evaluative and interpretive decisions in music and speech.