Deutsch carries out work on memory for pitch and music from several perspectives. Much of her present work concerns absolute pitch – why some people possess it, and why it is so rare. In particular, based on its high prevalence among speakers of tone language, she hypothesizes that absolute pitch originally evolved to subserve speech, and that it may be readily acquired by the association of pitches with meaningful words very early in life, during the critical period in which infants acquire the main features of their native language.
In other experiments, Deutsch examines the nature of the system underlying short term memory for pitch. Her work has shown that this system is precisely and systematically organized, in several ways along the same lines as the system that processes pitch information at the incoming level.
In further work, Deutsch has proposed and tested models of how the brain represents and stores musical information at various levels of abstraction. This involves both low-level abstractions such as musical intervals and chords, and also high-level abstractions in which pitch patterns are projected onto overlearned alphabets that are organized in hierarchical fashion.
Click here for a full test of absolute pitch together with the answers
References:
Perfect Pitch / Absolute Pitch
Peng, G., Deutsch, D., Henthirn, T., Su, D., and Wang, W. S-Y. Language experience influences nonlinguistic pitch perception
. Journal of Chinese Linguistics , in press
Dooley, K. & Deutsch, D. Absolute pitch correlates with high performance on musical dictation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2010, 128, 890-893, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D., Dooley, K., Henthorn, T. and Head, B. Absolute pitch among students in an American music conservatory: Association with tone language fluency. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009, 125, 2398-2403, [PDF Document] [Web Link]
Diana Deutsch, Kevin Dooley, Trevor Henthorn and Brian Head. Perfect Pitch: Language Wins Out Over Genetics. Media Release, Acoustical Society of America, 2009, May, [Web Link] [Laylanguage version]
Henthorn, T. & Deutsch, D. Ethnicity versus Early Environment: Comment on 'Early childhood music education and predisposition to absolute pitch: Teasing apart genes and environment' by Peter K. Gregersen, Elena Kowalsky, Nina Kohn, and Elizabeth West Marvin (2000). American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part A, 2007, 143A, 102-103, [PDF Document] [Web Link]
Deutsch, D., Henthorn, T., Marvin, E., & Xu H-S. Absolute pitch among American and Chinese conservatory students: Prevalence differences, and evidence for a speech-related critical period. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2006, 119, 719-722, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The Enigma of Absolute Pitch. Acoustics Today, 2006, 2, 11-18, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D., Henthorn T. and Dolson, M. Absolute pitch, speech, and tone language: Some experiments and a proposed framework. Music Perception, 2004, 21, 339-356, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D., Henthorn, T., Marvin, E. and Xu H-S. Tone language and absolute pitch: Prevalence among American and Chinese conservatory students. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 2004, 116, 2580, [Web Link] [Laylanguage version]
Deutsch, D. The Puzzle of Absolute Pitch. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2002, 11, 200-204, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D., Henthorn, T. and Dolson, M. Absolute pitch is demonstrated in speakers of tone languages. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 1999, 106, 2267, [Web Link] [Laylanguage version]
Short Term Memory for Pitch
Deutsch, D. Processing of pitch combinations. In D. Deutsch (Ed.). The psychology of music, 2nd Edition, 1999, 349-412, Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The processing of pitch combinations. In D. Deutsch (Ed.). The Psychology of Music, 1982, 271-316, New York: Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The influence of melodic context on pitch recognition judgement. Perception and Psychophysics, 1982, 31, 407-410, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Handedness and Memory for Tonal Pitch. In J. Herron (Ed.). Neuropsychology of Lefthandedness, 1980, 263-271, New York: Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Pitch memory: An advantage for the lefthanded. Science, 1978, 199, 559-560, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Delayed pitch comparisions and the principle of proximity. Perception & Psychophysics, 1978, 23, 227-230, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Interference in Pitch Memory as a Function of Ear of Input. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1978, 30, 282-287, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Interactive effects in memory for harmonic intervals. Perception and Psychophysics, 1978, 24, 7-10, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Memory and attention to music. In M. Critchley and R. A. Henson (Eds.). Music and the Brain, 1977, 95-130, London: Heinemann Medical Books. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Facilitation by repetition in recognition memory for tonal pitch. Memory and Cognition, 1975, 3, 263-266, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. & Feroe, J. Disinhibition in pitch memory. Perception & Psychophysics, 1975, 17, 320-324, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The organization of short term memory for a single acoustic attribute. In D. Deutsch and J. A. Deutsch (Eds.). Short Term Memory, 1975, 107-151, New York: Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Auditory Memory. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1975, 29, 87-105, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Generality of interference by tonal stimuli in recognition memory for pitch. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974, 26, 229-234
Deutsch, D. & Roll, P. L. Error patterns in delayed pitch comparisons as a function of relational context. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974, 103, 1027-1034, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Interference in memory between tones adjacent in the musical scale. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1973, 100, 228-231, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Octave generalization of specific interference effects in memory for tonal pitch. Perception and Psychophysics, 1973, 13, 271-275, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Mapping of Interactions in the Pitch Memory Store. Science, 1972, 175, 1020-1022, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Effect of Repetition of Standard and Comparison Tones on Recognition Memory for Pitch. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1972, 93, 156-162, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Music and Memory. Psychology Today, 1972, 8552, 87-89, 119
Deutsch, D. Tones and numbers: Specificity of interference in immediate memory. Science, 1970, 168, 1604-1605, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Dislocation of Tones in a Musical Sequence: a Memory Illusion. Nature, 1970, 226, 286, [PDF Document]
Perception and Memory for Musical Structure
Hamaoui, K. and Deutsch D. The Perceptual Grouping of Musical Sequences: Pitch and Timing as Competing Cues
. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, S.M. Demorest, S.J. Morrison, P.S. Campbell (Eds), 2010, July, 81-87, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Grouping mechanisms in music. In D. Deutsch (Ed.). The psychology of music, 2nd Edition, 1999, 299-348, Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Processing of pitch combinations. In D. Deutsch (Ed.). The psychology of music, 2nd Edition, 1999, 349-412, Academic Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The perception of auditory patterns. In W. Prinz and B. Bridgeman (Eds.). Handbook of Perception and Action, Vol 1, 1996, 1, 253-296, Academic Press.
Deutsch, D. La perception des structures musicales. In A. Zenatti (Ed.). Psychologie de la Musique, 1994, 115-144, Presses Universitaires de France.
Deutsch, D., North, T. & Ray, L. Vocal range for speech determines perception of a musical pattern. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1989, 86, S17, [Web Link]
Deutsch, D. Recognition of durations embedded in temporal patterns. Perception and Psychophysics, 1986, 39, 179-187, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Auditory pattern recognition. In K. Boff, L. Kaufman and J. Thomas (Eds.). Handbook of Perception and Human Performance, 1986, 32, 1-44, Wiley. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Two issues concerning tonal hierarchies: Comment on Castellano, Bharucha, and Krumhansl. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1984, 113, 413-416, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. & Boulanger, R.C. Octave equivalence and the processing of tonal sequences. Music Perception, 1984, 2, 40-51, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Memory for auditory information. In Squire, L. R. and N. Butters (Eds.). Neuropsychology of Memory, 1984, 45-54, The Guiford Press. [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. The Generation of Two Isochronous Sequences in Parallel. Perception & Psychophysics, 1983, 34, 331-337, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. & Feroe, J. The Internal Representation of Pitch Sequences in Tonal Music. Psychological Review, 1981, 88, 503-522, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Music perception and memory. Kungliga Musikaliska Akademiens Arsskrift, 1981, 38-60
Deutsch, D. The processing of structured and unstructured tonal sequences. Perception & Psychophysics, 1980, 28, 381-389, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Music perception. The Musical Quarterly, 1980, 66, 165-179, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Octave generalization and tune recognition. Perception & Psychophysics, 1972, 11, 411-412, [PDF Document]
Deutsch, D. Music Recognition. Psychological Review, 1969, 76, 300-309, [PDF Document]
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