Vocal Melody: Developmental perspectives on perception and memory

本研究主要研究音乐和言语中的声乐旋律，特别是它对知觉和记忆的影响。虽然声音是最古老和使用最广泛的乐器，但在音乐认知研究中很少使用它。然而，我们最近发现，成年人用音节“la”唱歌比用乐器演奏时更能记住旋律。这项拟议研究的一个重要目标是确定发声优势背后的因素以及这种优势在年龄和背景上的普遍性。我们将确定有经验的音乐家是否具有乐器和声乐方面的优势。由于自闭症患者对声音的大脑和行为反应减弱，声音呈现可能不会对旋律的记忆产生任何后果或不利影响。与年龄相关的嗓音显著变化可能会导致声乐和器乐表现的不同结果。我们已经开发出适合婴儿、学龄前儿童、学龄儿童和特殊人群使用的成人旋律记忆任务的改编。我们证明，成年人在声乐表现时比用器乐表现时更能记住旋律，但其他人对孤立声调的音高知觉不如对器乐音调精确。我们将记录与年龄相关的变化，以检测在熟悉的旋律用词演唱，唱成“la”或器乐演奏时的音高偏差。在较小的年龄阶段，词语的干扰作用可能会更大。旋律也与语音处理有关。一些声明(天在下雨。)还有问题(下雨了？)主要通过旋律模式或语调来区分。我们将从成人和儿童导向的讲话风格的旋律模式中探索与年龄相关的陈述和问题识别的变化。拟议的研究结果可能需要对音乐认知研究中的假设和实践进行修改。这些发现还将揭示影响音乐和演讲中的评价性和解释性决定的因素。

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.