Cognitive modeling of key interpretation in melody perception

Abstract

We constructed a computational model that predicted a plausible key and the degree of tonality for any given melody sequence (pitch sequence), through a step-wise or incremental series of computations. In an experiment, 13 musically trained participants listened to 30 Bach fugue subjects and random tone sequences and were asked to identify plausible keys and rate the tonality of the keys. The incremental predictions of our computational model were compared to the behavior of the human participants, as well as to predictions derived from models developed by Krumhansl (1990) and Longuet-Higgins and Steedman (1971). Our computational model provided the best-fitting cognitive model of the process of participants' tonal organization in melody perception.