The time course of recognition of novel melodies

Seven experiments explored the time course of recognition of brief novel melodies. In a continuous-running-memory task, subjects recognized melodic transpositions following delays up to 2.0 min. The delays were either empty or filled with other melodies. Test items included exact transpositions (T), same-contour lures (SC) with altered pitch intervals, and different-contour lures (DC). DCs differed from Ts in the pattern of ups and downs of pitch. With this design, we assessed subjects’ discrimination of detailed changes in pitch intervals (T/SC discrimination) as well as their discrimination of contour changes (T/DC). We used both artificial and “real” melodies. Artificial melodies differed in conformity to a musical key, being tonal or atonal. After empty delays, T/DC discrimination was superior to T/SC discrimination. Surprisingly, after filled delays, T/SC discrimination was superior to T/DC. When only filled delays were tested, T/SC discrimination did not decline over the longest delays. T/DC performance declined more than did T/SC performance across both empty and filled delays. Tonality was an important factor only for T/SC discrimination after filled delays. T/DC performance was better with rhythmically intact folk melodies than with artificial isochronous melodies. Although T/SC performance improved over filled delays, it did not overtake T/DC performance. These results suggest that (1) contour and pitch-interval information make different contributions to recognition, with contour dominating performance after brief empty delays and pitch intervals dominating after longer filled delays; (2) a coherent tonality facilitates the encoding of pitch-interval patterns of melodies; and (3) the rich melodic—rhythmic contours of real melodies facilitate T/DC discrimination. These results are discussed in terms of automatic and controlled processing of melodic information.     

Tonal strength and melody recognition after long and short delays.

In a continuous-running-memory task, subjects heard novel seven-note melodies that were tested after delays of 11 sec (empty) or 39 sec (filled). Test items were transposed to new pitch levels (to moderately distant keys in the musical sense) and included exact transpositions (targets), same-contour lures with altered pitch intervals, and new-contour lures. Melodies differed in tonal strength (degree of conformity to a musical key) and were tonally strong, tonally weak, or atonal. False alarms to same-contour lures decreased over the longer delay period, but only for tonal stimuli. In agreement with previous studies, discrimination of detailed changes in pitch intervals improved with increased delay, whereas discrimination of more global contour information declined, again only for tonal stimuli. These results suggest that poor short-delay performance in rejecting same-contour lures arises from confusion that is based on the similarity of tonality between standard stimuli and lures. If a test item has the same contour and a similar tonality to a just-presented item, subjects tend to accept it. After a delay filled with melodies in other tonalities, the salience of key information recedes, and subjects base their judgments on more detailed pattern information (namely, exact pitch intervals). The fact that tonality affects judgments of melodic contour indicates that contour is not an entirely separable feature of melodies but rather that a melody with its contour constitutes an integrated perceptual whole.     

A retrospective survey of students' views on a family therapy training programme

This paper describes the development of the training programme offered at the Family Institute in Cardiff and presents the results of a retrospective survey reflecting the 'consumers' views of the programme. Questionnaires were sent to all students who had trained at the Institute between 1972 and 1977, to elicit information about their views of the placement, as well as their post-qualifying experience, activities and interest in family therapy. A briefer preliminary report has been published earlier (Dowling and Seligman, 1980).     

The perception of melodies distorted by splitting into several octaves: Effects of increasing proximity and melodic contour

Splitting up the familiar tune “Yankee Doodle” by placing successive notes in different octaves makes it very difficult to recognize. The present experiments generalize this finding to more than one familiar tune and to presentation by actual musical instruments. Tunes differ in the degree to which their recognizability is affected by scrambling into different octaves, but recognition of all 10 tunes investigated was substantially diminished by the distortion. Increasing pitch proximity of temporally adjacent notes by leaving pairs or triples of successive notes intact within the same octave increases recognizability of at least some scrambled tunes. Leaving the melodic contour (the pattern of ups and downs) intact while splitting up the melody increases recognizability for subjects informed of the preservation of contour, though recognition is still worse than for undistorted versions.     

Quality of Life and Autonomy in Emerging Adults with Early-Onset Neuromuscular Disorders

Emerging adulthood is an important period in the development of one's identity and autonomy. The ways in which identity and autonomy are viewed by emerging adults and how they impact quality of life (QoL) in individuals with early-onset neuromuscular conditions is not yet known. This study focused on understanding and exploring relationships between self-perceptions of emerging adulthood, autonomy, and QoL. Five previously validated measures were incorporated into an online survey and distributed to young adults with early-onset neuromuscular conditions and unaffected controls. Topics explored included individuals' views regarding their overall QoL, disease-specific QoL, components of emerging adulthood, and autonomy. We found that a sense of higher disease impact was associated with a lower Overall General QoL. Additionally, perceptions of key autonomy factors "negativity" and "instability" were uniquely associated with Overall General QoL in the case group as compared to controls, whereas "attitudinal autonomy" (attaining the ability to plan and follow through with goals) was important to this age group regardless of health status. The specific factors of emerging adulthood and autonomy that were significantly correlated with Overall General QoL can be used for developing targeted counseling and interventions to improve QoL for individuals and their families.     

Family therapy for childhood depression: researching significant moments

This paper is a qualitative family therapy process study which is part of a larger European-based outcome study comparing family therapy to child psychotherapy plus parent support for depressed children and their families. The family therapists and two clinical supervisors from the original study formed themselves into a research team to study the process of therapy with twelve families. Therapists selected the significant moments from fifty-nine sessions, and were then interviewed by the research team using a standard protocol to investigate the therapists' own thinking about the significant moments. Applying a thematic analysis, the significant moments were clustered into eleven themes. The paper discusses the rationale for this model of research, which is well suited for clinical teams, and the application of the themes to therapeutic work with depressed children and their families.