| Summary: | This study was designed to examine musicians' versus nonmusicians' aural perception of a selective listening task utilizing a Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI). One hundred twenty undergraduate college students (60 musicians, 60 nonmusicians) were presented an excerpt from "Billy the Kid" by Aaron Copland. Subjects were instructed to indicate focus on instrumental family by manipulating the horizontal indicator of the experimental device (CRDI). === Prior to experimental sessions, experts listened to the orchestral excerpt, and indicated where and on what instrument family their attention was focused, and when their focus changed. These points of attention change established units of "sound intervals" during which subjects' aural attention could be measured in terms of focus on a specific instrumental family. The instrumental families were divided into five categorical constants per interval which were: (a) brass, (b) percussion, (c) all, (d) strings, and (e) woodwinds. Selection of the "all" category indicated focus of attention on three or more instrument families simultaneously. === Experimental conclusions were based upon a second by second analysis of each subject's performance whereby operant behaviors related to category selection were evaluated. Since unequal interval lengths required comparisons to be analyzed as percentages of duration rather than as cumulative seconds, additional comparisons between groups utilized: (a) cumulative seconds of focused attention, (b) frequency of focal change, and (c) mean duration of focal attention. === Results of the study indicated no significant differences between musicians and nonmusicians in the percentages of time focused within the five categories across sound intervals. However, analyses of the overall cumulative seconds indicated that nonmusicians listened to brass and percussion a greater number of seconds and for longer average durations than musicians. Musicians focused attention on strings for a greater number of seconds and with greater frequency. Both groups attended to woodwinds similarly. Musicians agreed with experts significantly more than nonmusicians. Significant differences as to total seconds spent in the "all" category may indicate that musicians are more able to perceive three or more instrumental families simultaneously. === Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-10, Section: A, page: 2859. === Major Professor: Clifford K. Madsen. === Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.
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