Good pitch memory is widespread
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
E Glenn Schellenberg1, Sandra E Trehub
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. g.schellenberg@utoronto.ca
Abstract:
Here we show that good pitch memory is widespread among adults with no musical training. We tested unselected college students on their memory for the pitch level of instrumental soundtracks from familiar television programs. Participants heard 5-s excerpts either at the original pitch level or shifted upward or downward by 1 or 2 semitones. They successfully identified the original pitch levels. Other participants who heard comparable excerpts from unfamiliar recordings could not do so. These findings reveal that ordinary listeners retain fine-grained information about pitch level over extended periods. Adults' reportedly poor memory for pitch is likely to be a by-product of their inability to name isolated pitches.
Related Concept Videos
Understanding Memory
Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
System of Memory
Implicit Memories
One key aspect of implicit...

