Innateness, Experience, and Music Perception
Abstract
Musical acculturation from infancy to adulthood was studied by testing the abilities of Western 6-month-olds and adults to notice mistunings in melodies based on native Western major, native Western minor, and non-native Javanese pelog scales. Results indicated that infants were similarly able to perceive native and non-native scales. Adults, however, were generally better perceivers of native than non-native scales. These findings suggest that infants are born with an equipotentiality for the perception of scales from a variety of cultures and that subsequent culturally specific experience substantially influences music perception. © 1990, Association for Psychological Science. All rights reserved.
Publication Title
Psychological Science
Recommended Citation
Lynch, M., Eilers, R., Oller, D., & Urbano, R. (1990). Innateness, Experience, and Music Perception. Psychological Science, 1 (4), 272-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00213.x
