背景:工作记忆是指负责信息的临时存储和维护的认知系统,但是,重叠的过程是否是暂时保留语言和音乐信息(例如单词和音调)的基础仍然存在争议。
方法:接受过很少或没有接受过音乐训练的参与者(n=22)和专业音乐家(n=21)接受了四项记忆任务。两项任务(音调序列识别和伪词序列回忆)旨在分别比较音调或语音材料的组表现。另外两个记忆任务在保留间隔期间在三个条件下研究了伪词和音调识别(沉默,无关紧要的词,或不相关的音调)。
结果:音乐家在音调序列识别方面比非音乐家更好,但在伪词序列回忆方面没有。不相关的音调或单词对伪词识别没有干扰作用,只有不相关的音调会显著干扰音调识别。
结论:我们的结果提供了进一步的支持,即音调识别受到无关音调的特定损害,但是不相关的单词不会破坏伪词或语调识别。尽管这些结果并未反映出语音和音调工作记忆之间的双重分离模式,他们提供证据表明临时保留音调信息会受到特定音调干扰,表示音调的工作记忆涉及特定的进程。
BACKGROUND: Working memory refers to the cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage and maintenance of information, but it remains controversial whether overlapping processes underlie the temporary retention of verbal and musical information such as words and tones.
METHODS: Participants with little or no musical training (n = 22) and professional musicians (n = 21) were administered four memory tasks. Two tasks (tone sequence recognition and pseudoword sequence recall) aimed at comparing groups\' performance for tonal or phonological material separately. Other two memory tasks investigated pseudoword and tone recognition under three conditions during the retention interval (silence, irrelevant words, or irrelevant tones).
RESULTS: Musicians were better than nonmusicians in tone sequence recognition but not in pseudoword sequence recall. There were no interference effects of irrelevant tones or words on pseudoword recognition, and only irrelevant tones significantly interfered with tone recognition.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results offer further support that tone recognition is specifically impaired by irrelevant tones, but irrelevant words did not disrupt pseudoword or tone recognition. Although these results do not reflect a double-dissociation pattern between phonological and tonal working memory, they provide evidence that temporary retention of tonal information is subject to specific tonal interference, indicating that working memory for tones involves specific processes.