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Category: Project

Description: Absolute pitch (AP), the rare ability to name any musical note without the aid of a reference note, is thought to develop during a critical period of development. Recent research, however, has shown that some degree of AP learning in adults can be partially explained by auditory working memory, though the amount of training was not extensive and the best learners still did not achieve note classification accuracy that would be considered comparable to a “genuine” AP possessor. Here, we demonstrate that AP can manifest in some adults with high auditory working memory after eight weeks of intensive training, with the best learner passing all measures of AP ability after training. Our AP measures included tests that spanned several octaves and instrumental timbres, which had also been used in previous assessments of AP ability. Moreover, AP learning was retained four months after the end of training. These results suggest that through perceptual training, AP ability can be improved to the criteria used to establish genuine AP and is indistinguishable from AP acquired in childhood. Implications for the critical period and perceptual learning theories of AP acquisition are discussed.