Summary Article Early childhood music education and predisposition to absolute pitch: teasing
apart genes and environment
•Absolute pitch (AP): a relatively uncommon cognitive ability possesses by a minority of professional
and amateur musicians, characterized by their ability to identify pitch names, or to recall specific
pitches, without the benefit of a reference pitch.
•A history of formal musical training before age 7 is widely acknowledged to predispose to AP;
however, such training is neither necessary nor sufficient in most people.
•There is a markedly increased rate of AP mong Asian students. One possible explanation for this
difference might be that early music exposure is more frequent in Asian students. However, this was
not significant so.
•When the type of early childhood music training was compared, however, Asians were significantly
more likely to be exposed to early training based on fixed do techniques compared to Caucasians.
•Thus, early childhood training substantially enhances the probability of AP, but is not an absolute
requirement for its development (because people without this training can have it also)
•In addition, high levels of training do not guarantee the development of AP.
•In summary, the researchers suggest that AP provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role
of gene-environment interactions on a relatively clean cognitive phenotype. The most reasonable
view is that certain early childhood musical exposure increase the probability of AP in genetically
susceptible individuals.
Leesvragen
Wat is absolute pitch?
Welke rol spelen genen bij de ontwikkeling van absolute pitch?
apart genes and environment
•Absolute pitch (AP): a relatively uncommon cognitive ability possesses by a minority of professional
and amateur musicians, characterized by their ability to identify pitch names, or to recall specific
pitches, without the benefit of a reference pitch.
•A history of formal musical training before age 7 is widely acknowledged to predispose to AP;
however, such training is neither necessary nor sufficient in most people.
•There is a markedly increased rate of AP mong Asian students. One possible explanation for this
difference might be that early music exposure is more frequent in Asian students. However, this was
not significant so.
•When the type of early childhood music training was compared, however, Asians were significantly
more likely to be exposed to early training based on fixed do techniques compared to Caucasians.
•Thus, early childhood training substantially enhances the probability of AP, but is not an absolute
requirement for its development (because people without this training can have it also)
•In addition, high levels of training do not guarantee the development of AP.
•In summary, the researchers suggest that AP provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role
of gene-environment interactions on a relatively clean cognitive phenotype. The most reasonable
view is that certain early childhood musical exposure increase the probability of AP in genetically
susceptible individuals.
Leesvragen
Wat is absolute pitch?
Welke rol spelen genen bij de ontwikkeling van absolute pitch?
