Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 304-313). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Past studies of object recognition in vision and language have shown that (1) identification of the larger structure of an object is possible even if its component units are ambiguous or missing, and (2) contexts often influence the perception of the component units. The present study asked whether a similar case could be found in audition, investigating (1) whether melody recognition would be possible with uncertain pitch cues, and (2) whether adding contextual information would enhance pitch perception. Sixteen musically trained listeners attempted to identify, on a piano keyboard, pitches of tones in three different context conditions: (1) single tones, (2) pairs of tones, and (3) familiar melodies. The pitch cues were weakened using bandpass filtered noises of varying bandwidths. With increasing bandwidth, listeners were less able to identify the pitches of the tones. However, they were able to name the melodies despite their inability to identify the individual notes. There was no effect of context; whether or not listeners heard single tones, pairs of tones, or melodies did not influence their pitch identification of the tones. Several possible explanations were discussed regarding types of information that listeners had access to, since they could not have relied on detailed features of the melodies.

This thesis includes four studies investigating neural correlates underlying pitch perception, and effects of tonal context on this percept. Each study addressed the issue from a unique methodological perspective. The first study confirmed that tonal context can affect the way a tone's pitch is perceived. In this study, normal listeners made pitch discriminations between tones varying in pitch and/or timbre, a difficult task when presented in isolation. Increasing tonal context increased performance, with melodic context providing the most facilitation. / A similar task was presented to patients with unilateral focal excisions in the temporal lobe. Patients with right but not left temporal lobe lesions were impaired at using melodic cues to facilitate performance. Posterior extent of the lesions did not affect results, implying that right anterior temporal regions can process pitch information relative to tones heard previously. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a similar task with normal listeners found converging evidence. Melodic context produced the most activity in right anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG), as well as the most facilitation behaviorally. / A positron emission tomography study investigating neural processing of song stimuli broadened the investigation to include a comparison between musical and linguistic processing. Left frontal and temporal structures known to be involved in language processing were active when subjects attended to song lyrics, and right temporal-lobe structures were again implicated in melodic processing, suggesting that a song's lyrics and melodies are processed separately. / These studies find pitch processing in tonal contexts to involve right temporal-lobe structures. The right anterior STG in particular appears to be involved in processing pitch relative to previously heard tones. This suggests that the right anterior STG processes tones with respect to their tonal context, which entails holding contextual tones in memory while processing subsequent tones. This region has connections to right dorsolateral frontal areas previously implicated in tonal working memory, possibly providing a mechanism for holding contextual tones in memory. Supporting this theory, all contextual conditions in the fMRI study produced activity in right dorsolateral frontal cortex.

The frequency-following response (FFR) is a scalp-recorded evoked potential which faithfully mimics an auditory stimulus waveform. Some research has attempted to relate the FFR to pitch perception based on FFR spectral peaks which correspond to the perceived pitch of the evoking stimulus, but these explanations are not definitive because the pitch of the evoking stimulus is often equal to the waveform envelope frequency or nonlinear distortion products also represented in the FFR. The experiments herein attempt to clarify the relevance of the FFR to pitch perception and as an assay of nonlinear distortion in the auditory system. Using harmonic and inharmonic "missing fundamental" complex tone stimuli, it is demonstrated that: (a) missing fundamental pitch is not represented as a spectral peak in the FFR, (b) the FFR contains energy at the stimulus envelope frequency, primary tone frequencies, and nonlinear distortion product frequencies, and (c) human pitch perception can be predicted by a weighted average of envelope-locked and phase-locked neural activity in the FFR. The origin and properties of nonlinear distortion products measured in the FFR are also investigated.

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Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Psychology. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/28). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral--Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster (Westf.), 1973. / Cover date: 1974. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-198).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1993. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Robert Pace. Dissertation Committee: Harold Abeles. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-45).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster, 1974. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p 125-129).

Thesis (M.M.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Music, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Oct. 30, 2009) Includes bibliographic references (p. 41-44). Also issued in print.