Table 1 Demographic characteristics and behavioral pretest data for amusic and control participants. Means (with standard deviations in parentheses) are reported for each group and compared with independent two-sided t-tests.

From: Impaired encoding of rapid pitch information underlies perception and memory deficits in congenital amusia

Characteristics

Amusics (n = 10)

Controls (n = 10)

t-test

Age in years

67.10 (3.5)

65.10 (4.4)

t(18) = 1.12, P = 0.27

Gender

5 female, 5 male

7 female, 3 male

N/A

Education in years

16.5 (2.5)

15 (3.8)

t(18) = 1.04, P = 0.30

Musical education in years

1.4 (0.9)

1.60 (1.4)

t(18) = 0.36, P = 0.71

MBEA1 (cut-off based on33)

Total score (cut-off 23.4)

19.7 (2.6)

26.75 (1.1)

t(18) = 4.79, P < 0.0001

Melodic sub-tests score (cut off 21.6)

18.2 (2.6)

27.4 (1.9)

t(18) = 8.93, P < 0.0001

Pitch Change Detection2

1/4 semitone

31.9 (21.1)

91.3 (11.1)

t(18) = 7.87, P < 0.0001

1/2 semitone

70.5 (22.7)

94.2 (9.5)

t(18) = 3.05, P = 0.006

1 semitone

89.3 (14.3)

94.4 (9.8)

t(18) = 0.98, P = 0.34

2 semitones

95.5 (3.6)

94.8 (10.7)

t(18) = 0.19, P = 0.85

3 semitones

95.7 (4.7)

94.8 (9.7)

t(18) = 0.26, P = 0.79

  1. 1MBEA = Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia, Results for the MBEA are expressed as the number of correct responses (averaged over the six tests of the battery and the six melodic tests of the MBEA (Scale, Contour, Interval; maximum score = 30).
  2. 2Pitch Change Detection (PCD) scores were calculated in terms of percentage of Hits (correct response in different trials) minus percentage of false alarms (FA) in each group of participants. In the PCD task, participants are required to detect a pitch change of 1/4 semitone up to 3 semitones within the context of a five-tone sequence (isochronous, played at a pitch level of C6 (1047 Hz), tone duration = 100 ms; ITI = 250 ms, SOA = 350 ms; see12).
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