Haskins Publications

Number	1562
Year	2009
Drawer	27
Entry Date	12/01/2009
Authors	Repp, B.H. & Thompson, J.M.
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Publication	Psychological Research, DOI 10.1007/s00426-009-0264-9
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1562.pdf
Abstract	Three experiments investigated the influence of unambiguous (UA) context tones on the perception of octave-ambiguous (OA) tones. In Experiment 1, pairs of OA tones spanning a tritone interval were preceded by pairs of UA tones instantiating a rising or falling interval between the same pitch classes. Despite the inherent ambiguity of OA tritone pairs, most participants showed little or no priming when judging the OA tritone as rising or falling. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants compared the pitch heights of single OA and UA tones representing either the same pitch class or being a tritone apart. These judgments were strongly influenced by the pitch range of the UA tones, but only slightly by the spectral center of the OA tones. Thus, the perceived pitch height of single OA tones is context sensitive, but the perceived relative pitch height of two OA tones, as descried in previous research on the “tritone paradox,” is largely invariant in UA tone contexts.
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