Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Memory for musical tempo: additional evidence that auditory memory is absolute

D J Levitin1, P R Cook

  • 1Department of Psychology 1227, University of Oregon, Eugene, 97403-1227, USA. levitin@cogsci.uoregon.edu

Perception & Psychophysics
|August 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Long-term memory accurately preserves absolute tempo in familiar songs, near the just-noticeable difference threshold. This suggests music memory is not solely due to articulatory constraints.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Complex small-world regulatory networks emerge from the 3D organisation of the human genome.

Nature communications·2021
Same author

Nonequilibrium Chromosome Looping via Molecular Slip Links.

Physical review letters·2018
Same author

Extrusion without a motor: a new take on the loop extrusion model of genome organization.

Nucleus (Austin, Tex.)·2018
Same author

Simulating topological domains in human chromosomes with a fitting-free model.

Nucleus (Austin, Tex.)·2016
Same author

Merging drops in a Teflon tube, and transferring fluid between them, illustrated by protein crystallization and drug screening.

Lab on a chip·2015
Same author

A simple model for DNA bridging proteins and bacterial or human genomes: bridging-induced attraction and genome compaction.

Journal of physics. Condensed matter : an Institute of Physics journal·2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Auditory Perception
  • Music Cognition

Background:

  • Long-term memory's capacity to retain precise perceptual details is debated.
  • Previous research has not definitively established whether absolute features of auditory events are preserved in memory.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether long-term memory retains absolute tempo information from musical performances.
  • To test the hypothesis that memory for music preserves accurate tempo, not just relative timing.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Subjects (n=46) sang popular songs from memory, and their production tempos were compared to original recordings.
  • Experiment 2: A control experiment examined tempo variability in folk songs lacking a standard tempo to rule out articulatory constraints.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Seventy-two percent of sung song tempos were within 8% of the actual tempo, near the just-noticeable difference (JND) for tempo.
  • Folk songs without a standard tempo exhibited high tempo variability, suggesting memory for tempo is not solely driven by motor production.

Conclusions:

  • Long-term memory appears to retain absolute tempo information for familiar music.
  • Findings challenge theories suggesting memory for music relies solely on articulatory or relative timing mechanisms.
  • This research contributes to understanding the fidelity of perceptual memory for auditory events.