Among the mental functions recruited by music, timbre processing is possibly one of the most interesting, as it exemplifies the perceptual constancy that allows recognition of regularities in the environment. The objective of the present work was to investigate the musical perception of children with formal music education and the prevalence of fundamental and spectral listeners based on the differential perception of complex tones. Thirty children between 10 and 15 years old participated, who responded to 48 pairs of tones, in which the second tone should be judged as ascending or descending. The participants' responses allowed the calculation of an index of pitch perception preference (Δp). The results show that the Control Group presented Δp closer to zero than the Musicians Group, both with normal distribution. Therefore, musicians and nonmusicians have subtle differences in the perception of complex tones, with a preference for fundamental listeners among the musicians investigated.
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