OT?... interesting tidbit

[Bill Ballard]

At 7:39 AM -0500 12/14/02, JIMRPT@aol.com wrote:
>A new study by researchers at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., suggests
>that recalling that melody is the job of a part of the brain known as the
>rostromedial prefrontal cortex. It is the part that remembers music and is
>even able to recognize a sour note in the midst of a familiar tune.
>
>A team led by researcher Petr Janata of Dartmouth's Center for Cognitive
>Neuroscience explored the mind's memory for tunes by studying the brains of
>eight musicians as they listened to a bit of original music.
.......(snip)
>Hmmm............... interesting  I wonder if this "rostromedial prefrontal
>cortex" plays a role in 'perfect pitch' thingees??

Sounds like a different use of memory to me. The test involved 
musicians with trained musical ears (albeit, trained in ET) who could 
pick out poor intonation in an unfamiliar melody. Perfect pitch 
involves the yes/no agreement with a single frequency within strict 
limits, based on lordknowswhatif anythingbeyondsheeforceofwill. 
Melody recognition involves a serial string of frequencies, with 
possibly even a 100¢ limit of error for each pitch. Neither your 
article, nor the story I heard on the "Network Which Dares Not Speak 
Its Name" mentioned whether a "sour note was 2¢ off or 100¢.

But you make an interesting suggestion, JimBeau. Another research 
team could assemble of collection of musicians who could say yes/no 
to a series of pitches within the narrow frequency limits which we 
expect from "Perfect Pitch", separated by two minutes of 
"books-on-tape" to eliminate the possibility of conscious pitch 
memory schemes. These subjects could then put back under MRI to see 
if the same areas of the brain light up.

Hmmm.......maybe there's a defense or counter-terrorism angle in such 
a research project.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"Never try to teach a pig to sing.
It wastes time and annoys the pig."
     ...........Sign on the wall of a college voice teacher's studio.
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