Japanese monkeys perceive sensory consonance of chords

Authors
Citation
A. Izumi, Japanese monkeys perceive sensory consonance of chords, J ACOUST SO, 108(6), 2000, pp. 3073-3078
Citations number
30
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary,"Optics & Acoustics
Journal title
JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
ISSN journal
0001-4966 → ACNP
Volume
108
Issue
6
Year of publication
2000
Pages
3073 - 3078
Database
ISI
SICI code
0001-4966(200012)108:6<3073:JMPSCO>2.0.ZU;2-I
Abstract
Consonance/dissonance affects human perception of chords from early stages of development [e.g., Schellenberg and Trainer, J. Acoust, Sec. Am. 100, 33 21-3328 (1996)]. To examine whether consonance has some role in audition of nonhumans, three Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) were trained to discrim inate simultaneous two-tone complexes (chords). The task was serial discrim ination (AX procedure) with repetitive presentation of background stimuli. Each tone in a chord was comprised of six harmonics, and chords with comple x ratios of fundamental frequency (e.g., frequency ratio of 8:15 in major s eventh) resulted in dissonance. The chords were transposed for each present ation to make monkeys attend to cues other than the absolute frequency of a component tone. Monkeys were initially trained to detect changes from cons onant (octave) to dissonant (major seventh). Following the successful acqui sition of the task, transfer tests with novel chords were conducted. In the se transfer tests, the performances with detecting changes from consonant t o dissonant chords (perfect fifth to major seventh; perfect fourth to major seventh) were better than those with detecting reverse changes. These resu lts suggested that the consonance of chords affected the performances of mo nkeys. (C) 2000 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(00)03712-7].