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Spatial Properties of Perceived Pitch
Author(s) -
Sonnadara Ranil R.,
Gonzalez David A.,
Hansen Steve,
Elliott Digby,
Lyons James L.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04858.x
Subject(s) - spatial reference system , spatial frequency , movement (music) , spatial configuration , affect (linguistics) , computer science , acoustics , physics , communication , psychology , mathematics , artificial intelligence , optics , mathematical analysis , distribution (mathematics)
We present three experiments that show a clear influence of pitch on reaching movements. The first experiment shows that when there are incompatibilities between the spatial representations of target coordinates and perceived pitches, response times are longer than when spatial representations are congruous. The second experiment shows that pitch can influence motor responses, biasing their direction. The third experiment shows that in the absence of any other spatial cues, tones are assigned spatial coordinates based on frequency. Our results suggest that pitch may indeed have inherent spatial properties, and that these properties may affect movement planning and execution.