Beyond pitch: temporal processing deficits in congenital amusia

• Published in: Psychological research Vol. 89; no. 5; p. 141
• Main Authors: van Vugt, F. T., Fornoni, L., Pralus, A., Albouy, P., Caclin, A., Tillmann, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 11.09.2025; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Auditory Perceptual Disorders - physiopathology; Auditory Perceptual Disorders - psychology; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Case-Control Studies; Female; Frequency; Humans; Hypotheses; Information processing; Life Sciences; Male; Melody; Middle Aged; Music - psychology; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurons and Cognition; Pitch Perception - physiology; Principal Component Analysis; Principal components analysis; Psychology; Psychology Research; Psychophysics; Rhythm; Sensory Thresholds - physiology; Time Perception - physiology; Young Adult; Temporal processing; Tone deafness; Pitch discrimination; Auditory short-term memory; Maximum-Likelihood Procedure (MLP)
• ISSN: 0340-0727; 1430-2772; 1430-2772
• DOI: 10.1007/s00426-025-02153-w

Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder resulting in impaired pitch perception and memory. Here we investigated whether participants with congenital amusia have deficits in temporal processing of auditory information, in addition to pitch processing deficits. Individuals with amusia ( n  = 19) and matched controls ( n  = 21) were presented with sequences of five tones in which one tone was sometimes shifted in pitch or in time, and we adaptively assessed psychophysical thresholds for detecting these shifts. Pitch thresholds of the amusia group were higher (i.e., worse) than those of the control group as expected, and, crucially, time thresholds were too, although the group difference for time thresholds was smaller. Across participants, time thresholds correlated with pitch thresholds. Principal component analysis revealed that all pitch- and time-related variables (thresholds and amusia battery scores) were correlated to one component that also distinguished between amusics and controls; whereas a second component captured additional variability on the time task. Simulations suggest that prior studies had not found these time processing deficits because they had less statistical power, likely due to smaller sample sizes. The observed time processing deficit is in agreement with amusic individuals’ subjective reports about their difficulties following the rhythm of the music. These data suggest that amusia deficits are not restricted to pitch, but extend to the time domain, yet with a smaller effect size, and at least when the stimuli have a clear pitch content, such as for tone sequences or music. Significance statement There is a long-standing debate as to whether the brain processes pitch and time information separately or with shared mechanisms. The hypothesis of separate processing is supported by reports of deficits that appear to be selective to either dimension, such as pitch processing impairments in congenital amusia. However, here we show that congenital amusics exhibit time processing deficits, albeit more subtle than the documented pitch processing deficits. This work supports a more integrated view in which pitch and time processing share some common resources.