For example, one study found that children outperformed adults in a learning paradigm that focused on learning a single note. Critical periods in AP development have also been supported in principle through training studies. However, this critical period theory of AP is bolstered in large part by the lack of conclusive evidence that AP can be learned by any post-critical-period adults, thus resting on null findings. The most widely accepted theory is that “genuine” AP ability can only be developed as a result of an early critical period of learning (the critical period theory). The question of how individuals acquire this ability continues to be a matter of debate. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.Ībsolute pitch (AP), also called “perfect pitch”, is the rare ability to name any musical note without the aid of a reference note. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All data and materials associated with this paper can be accessed through Open Science Framework ( )įunding: This research was supported by the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) Program of the Office of Naval Research through grant, DOD/ONR N0-020 ( ) to HCN. Received: OctoAccepted: SeptemPublished: September 24, 2019Ĭopyright: © 2019 Van Hedger et al. PLoS ONE 14(9):Įditor: Yafit Gabay, University of Haifa Faculty of Education, ISRAEL Implications for theories of AP acquisition are discussed.Ĭitation: Van Hedger SC, Heald SLM, Nusbaum HC (2019) Absolute pitch can be learned by some adults. Overall, these results demonstrate that explicit perceptual training in some adults can lead to AP performance that is behaviorally indistinguishable from AP that manifests within a critical period of development. Yet, it is also important to note that a majority of the participants only exhibited modest improvements in performance, suggesting that adult AP learning is difficult and that near-perfect levels of AP may only be achievable by subset of adults. The results also did not appear to be driven by extreme familiarity with a single instrument or octave range, as the post-training AP assessments used eight different timbres and spanned over seven octaves. Alternative explanations of these positive results, such as improving accuracy through adopting a slower, relative pitch strategy, are not supported based on joint analyses of response time and accuracy. ![]() Here, we demonstrate that these “genuine” levels of AP performance can be achieved within eight weeks of training for at least some adults, with the best learner passing all measures of AP ability after training and retaining this knowledge for at least four months after training. Although recent research has shown that adults can improve AP performance in a single training session, the best learners still did not achieve note classification levels comparable to performance of a typical, “genuine” AP possessor. Absolute pitch (AP), the rare ability to name any musical note without the aid of a reference note, is thought to depend on an early critical period of development.
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