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Are
certain types of sounds easier to remember than
others? Given the importance of tone envelope (i.e. a sound's shape
over time), I was curious whether tones with percussive (impact)
envelopes are easier on the brain than tones with flat envelopes. To
do this, we took pure tones and shaped them with two different
envelopes - either "percussive" (exponential decaying) or "flat."
Working with Jeanine Stefanucci's undergraduate students Andrew Carberry and Amber Roth at
William and Mary, we arranged these individual tones into random 4-note
melodies. You can hear samples of these melodies to the right: |
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Percussive tone melody example
Flat tone melody example |
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We then played these melodies for participants, arbitrarily associating
them with a common household object such as car keys, a remote control,
camera, etc. When later tested on these associations, we observed
interesting differences in the number of tone sequence-object
associations recalled. Participants hearing sequences with percussive
tones recalled significantly more of their associated objects. |
Ten everyday objects served as target items: Clock-radio, Remote control, Jewelry box, CD, GPS device, Camera, Calculator, Cell phone, Keys, Blockbuster card,
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