Phrases composed of small pitch intervals form more coherent representations for comparison

Evidence

When patterns are transposed, then performance is best for standard patterns consisting of small intervals. This is consistent with the notion that grouping is promoted by featural similarity, and that representations of phrases consisting of small intervals are more easily formed, suggesting that comparisons between patterns may be facilitated by having a more coherent representation of the standard. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5327