Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32493923›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

Perceptual fusion of musical notes by native Amazonians suggests universal representations of musical intervals.

Malinda J McPherson, Sophia E Dolan, Alex Durango, Tomas Ossandon, Joaquín Valdés, Eduardo A Undurraga, Nori Jacoby, Ricardo A Godoy, Josh H McDermott

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Auditory scene analysis in music: A synthetic review.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
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  5. Article
  6. Listening to a Consonant Chord Progression during Live Face-to-Face Gaze Enhances Neural Activity in Social Systems.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. A deep learning framework for understanding cochlear implants.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  11. Core systems of music perception.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2025
    Review
  12. The role of musical pitch in long-distance defensive signaling.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025
    Review
  13. Musical neurodynamics.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Do rats (Royal Society open science · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Malinda J McPhersonDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. mjmcp@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-6774
Sophia E DolanWellesley College, Wellesley, MA, 02481, USA.
Alex DurangoDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
Tomas OssandonDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7306-7754
Joaquín ValdésDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3222-8440
Eduardo A UndurragaEscuela de Gobierno, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4425-1253
Nori JacobyMax Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany.
Ricardo A GodoyHeller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA.
Josh H McDermottDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. jhm@mit.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3965-2503

Funding

Auditory Scene Analysis with Complex SoundsR01DC014739 · NIDCD · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI MCDERMOTT, JOSH H · 2016 to 2020
$1.9M
Individual and population differences in the representation of harmonic soundsF31DC018433 · NIDCD · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI MCPHERSON, MALINDA JEANETTE · 2019 to 2021
$67k
NIDCD NIH HHS F31 DC018433NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC014739
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Music perception is plausibly constrained by universal perceptual mechanisms adapted to natural sounds. Such constraints could arise from our dependence on harmonic frequency spectra for segregating concurrent sounds, but evidence has been circumstantial. We measured the extent to which concurrent musical notes are misperceived as a single sound, testing Westerners as well as native Amazonians with limited exposure to Western music. Both groups were more likely to mistake note combinations related by simple integer ratios as single sounds ('fusion'). Thus, even with little exposure to Western harmony, acoustic constraints on sound segregation appear to induce perceptual structure on note combinations. However, fusion did not predict aesthetic judgments of intervals in Westerners, or in Amazonians, who were indifferent to consonance/dissonance. The results suggest universal perceptual mechanisms that could help explain cross-cultural regularities in musical systems, but indicate that these mechanisms interact with culture-specific influences to produce musical phenomena such as consonance.

Indexed as

Indigenous PeoplesMusicAcoustic StimulationAdultBoliviaFemaleHumansMalePitch PerceptionSound

Identifiers

PMID32493923
PMCPMC7270137

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.