Abstract
Recognition of the pitch of a tone is disrupted by the interpolation of other tones during the retention interval. The disruptive effect of an interpolated tone varies systematically as a function of its pitch relationship to the tone to be remembered, and is maximal at a 2/3-tone separation. When such a tone is interpolated, the interpolation in addition of a further tone that is 2/3 tone removed from this disruptive tone (and 4/3 tone removed from the tone to be remembered) causes recognition of the first tone substantially to return. When recognition performance is plotted as a function of the pitch relationship between these two interpolated tones, the results accord well with a model assuming mutual inhibitory interactions between pitch memory elements.
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This work was supported by United States Public Health Service Grant MH-21001-03.
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Deutsch, D., Feroe, J. Disinhibition in pitch memory. Perception & Psychophysics 17, 320–324 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203217
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203217