Analytic versus synthetic perception of complex tones
Edward McN. Burns, Adrianus J. M. Houtsma · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1977
The ability of observers to track the pitch of individual harmonics of a complex tone (analytic perception) confounds interpretation of the results of many experiments on fundamental tracking of complex tones (synthetic perception). This is particularly true for 2AFC paradigms and makes pitch discrimination results for complex tones difficult to interpret. Data are presented which illustrate this problem. In one experiment observers were required to detect a change in the (missing) fundamental of a “complex” tone comprising one, two, or three harmonics in a 2AFC task. Half of our observers produced results equivalent to those of Houtgast [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 60, 405–409 (1976)] except that our results were independent of S/N ratio. Houtgast argued for the existence of subharmonic pitch cues. We propose an interpretation based on comparisons of harmonics of stimulus tones. Another 8AFC musical interval identification experiment using tone complexes of non-successive harmonics shows also the confounding effect of harmonic tracking. [Work supported by NIH.]