关键词: 音乐训练, 听觉工作记忆, 时间规则, 音乐结构, 动态注意理论

Abstract:

Musical training enhances sensitivity to both temporal (e.g., rhythm) and non-temporal (e.g., pitch) structures during auditory processing. However, little is known about the joint processing of these structures in auditory working memory and the influence of musical expertise. This study explored whether pitch and rhythmic structures are processed interactively or independently in auditory working memory, and how musical expertise modulates this relationship.

Two experiments were conducted with 36 musicians and 36 nonmusicians. Experiment 1 involved a pitch maintenance task, where participants judged whether two pitch sequences were the same or different while ignoring rhythmic variations, which could act as background interference. The sequences varied in pitch structure (tonal vs. atonal), rhythmic structure (simple vs. complex), and length (five-note vs. seven-note). Experiment 2 examined rhythm maintenance, where participants judged whether two rhythmic sequences were the same or different while ignoring pitch information. While the task was conceptually the reverse of Experiment 1—requiring attention to rhythm rather than pitch—the design similarly manipulated pitch structure, rhythmic structure, and sequence length to compare how participants processed rhythmic information when suppressing irrelevant pitch content.

The results of Experiment 1 indicated that nonmusicians tended to process pitch and rhythmic structures independently during the pitch maintenance task. In contrast, musicians exhibited a significant interaction between pitch and rhythm, demonstrating their ability to integrate these structures for more effective processing. A correlation analysis further confirmed the role of musical training in this integration; sensitivity to the interaction of pitch and rhythm was positively correlated with participants' musical sophistication scores. This suggests that individuals with higher musical expertise exhibit more pronounced integration of pitch and rhythmic information, reflecting enhanced multidimensional auditory processing abilities in musicians. In Experiment 2, however, both musicians and nonmusicians processed pitch and rhythm independently during the rhythm maintenance task, with no significant interaction. This contrasts with the findings of Experiment 1, indicating that pitch and rhythmic structures are processed separately during rhythm maintenance. Furthermore, nonmusicians showed no difference in sensitivity between tonal and atonal conditions in the rhythm maintenance task, although they responded faster in the tonal condition than in the atonal condition.

These results support dynamic attending theory, which posits that attentional resources align with temporal events, thus facilitating the processing of non-temporal information, such as pitch, when in synchrony with rhythmic structure. While nonmusicians relied more on independent processing strategies across both tasks, musicians showed enhanced cognitive flexibility, modulating their processing strategies in response to task complexity. This suggests that musical training not only improves auditory sensitivity but also allows individuals to adaptively switch between processing strategies based on task demands. Future research may further explore how different types of musical training affect the interaction between temporal and non-temporal auditory information under varying cognitive loads.

Key words: musical training, auditory working memory, temporal regularity, musical structure, dynamic attending theory