The frequency “pecking order” within musical chords

Continuing the search for organizational principles important to the perception of part tones within musical chords, the present study explores the effect of intrachordal frequency location. Our paradigm requires an observer to perform a monaural yes-no detection task of a tonal signal within Gaussian noise whose frequency is randomly chosen on each trial from a fixed set of frequencies. A contralateral frequency cue is provided prior to the detection interval on each trial with which the observer can reduce the deleterious effects of this signal frequency uncertainty. In successive experimental conditions of this study, the cue was assigned to each of the possible frequency locations of a three-element musical chord, while monitoring the cue's effectiveness in enhancing detection performance. Shifts in detection performance suggest that specific frequency information derived from part-tones of a musical chord becomes increasingly more accessible the higher the relative frequency location of the part-tone within the chord. This pattern persists even if the relative frequency location of the cue within the chord is randomly varied from trial to trial, preventing any fixed processing strategy on the part of the observer.