Not Just Cents: Physical and Psychological Influences on Interval Perception

The physical distance between two notes of a scale can be measured in terms of an acoustic unit called cent. The same distance, however, can also be measured in terms of scale steps, which are defined as the number of diatonic tones between two notes. Our study supports the idea that the perception of distance between two notes is influenced by both acoustic and musical abstractions from the auditory input. Specifically, we demonstrate that distances are perceived as a function of cents and scale steps. Our results were consistent regardless of musical training, country, and sensitivity to tonal hierarchies, which were measured by means of a probe-tone experiment. Overall, we suggest that scale steps are represented cognitively and that this variable can be used to describe the relationship between two musical notes within a tonal framework.