The Effects of Stimulus Familiarity on Conservation-Type Responses to Tone Sequences: A Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

The body of research on music conservation is briefly outlined and critically evaluated; although most of the results of this research are in line with predictions from Jean Piaget's theory, there are many reasons the analogy with nonmusic conservation tasks may be invalid. These issues were investigated in the present study by comparing the performances of equivalent groups of 6-year-olds and 8-year-olds in the United Kingdom and the United States on “pitch transposition” and “rhythmic inversion” music conservation tasks that employed either familiar or unfamiliar tone sequences (common nursery rhyme tunes or “statistical approximations to music” respectively) as stimulus materials. Significantly more conservation-type responses were produced by 8-year-olds than by 6-year-olds, and were evoked more by familiar than unfamiliar tone sequences over all conditions. There were no other significant main effects or interactions. Although these results could broadly be interpreted as supporting Piagetian theory, the strong stimulus effect suggests that familiar and unfamiliar sequences may be processed differently, such that an explanation in terms of the development of conservation-type abilities may be inadequate.