Absolute and relative pitch discrimination in serial pitch perception by birds.

Four European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were successfully trained to discriminate a set of temporally configured 4-tone sequences that rose in pitch on a whole-tone scale from a set of otherwise identical 4-tone sequences that fell in pitch. A series of transfer tests assessed their ability to maintain the discrimination (a) when the intensity of the tones in the patterns was varied and (b) when the patterns were shortened to 1, 2, or 3 tones. The discrimination was maintained when intensity values changed, which indicated that apparent loudness was not a relevant cue for accurate performance. When sequences were shortened, overall discrimination performance diminished. Shortened sequences produced evidence for both absolute and relative pitch perception in sequence discrimination. The discrimination depended in part on the ability to "name" particular pitches in the sequences and in part on the ability to detect that a given sequence rose or fell in pitch. Results have implications for cognitive processes in serial acoustic pattern perception by animals, for a comparative study of pitch perception guided by theories encompassing absolute and relative pitch, and for research seeking the functionally significant dimensions of natural birdsong. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)