Relative pitch recognition is an auditory case of translation-invariant object perception

Evidence

Most people easily recognise well known melodies even when they are transposed to a different key. The invariant property of transposed melodies is the preserved pitch ratio relationship between notes of the melody; i.e. pitch intervals of the melody remain the same despite changes in absolute pitch. For this reason, it is assumed that the ability to recognise pitch relationships (relative pitch perception) is rather robust and commonly found in the population. Recognition of preserved pitch interval patterns irrespective of absolute pitch is an auditory example of translation-invariant object perception (Kubovy and Van Valkenburg 2001 ; Griffiths and Warren 2004 ; Winkler et al. 2009 ). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5265

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames relative pitch perception as translation-invariant object perception, connecting auditory recognition to a general perceptual principle.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5265
• XREF: connects to: Auditory Gestalt perception mirrors vision through spectral-pitch contours — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 2043; Relative pitch perception resists explanation by invariant interval ratios — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5327; Rapid pattern detection rests on memory for absolute pitch rather than relative pitch relationships