Children and adults, with or without music training, exhibit better memory for vocal melodies (without lyrics) than for instrumental melodies (Weiss, Schellenberg, Trehub, & Dawber, 2015; Weiss, Trehub, & Schellenberg, 2012; Weiss, Trehub, Schellenberg, & Habashi, 2016; Weiss, Vanzella, Schellenberg, & Trehub, 2015). In the present study, we compared adults’ memory for vocal and instrumental melodies, as before, but with two additional singers, one female (same pitch level as the original female) and one male (7 semitones lower). In an exposure phase, 90 participants ( M = 4.1 years training, SD = 3.9) rated their liking of 24 melodies—6 each in voice, piano, banjo, and marimba. After a short break, they heard the same melodies plus 24 timbre-matched foils (6 per timbre) and rated their recognition of each melody. Recognition was better for vocal melodies than for melodies in every other timbre, replicating previous findings. Importantly, the memory advantage was comparable across voices, despite the fact that liking ratings for vocal melodies differed by singer. Our results provide support for the notion that the vocal advantage in memory for melodies is independent of the idiosyncrasies of specific singers or of vocal attractiveness, arising instead from enhanced processing of a biologically significant timbre.

We report two experiments exploring whether matched metrical and motivic structure facilitate the recognition of melodic patterns. Eight tonal melodies were composed from binary (four-note) or ternary (three-note) motivic patterns, and were each presented within a metrical context that either matched or mismatched the pattern. On each trial, participants heard patterns twice and performed a same-different task; in half the trials, one pitch in the second presentation was altered. Performance was analyzed using signal detection analyses of sensitivity and response bias. In Experiment 1, expert listeners showed greater sensitivity to pitch change when metrical context matched motivic pattern structure than when they conflicted (an effect of metrical encoding) and showed no response bias. Novice listeners, however, did not show an effect of metrical encoding, exhibiting lower sensitivity and a bias toward responding “same.” In a second experiment using only novices, each trial contained five presentations of the standard followed by one presentation of the comparison. Sensitivity to changes improved relative to Experiment 1: evidence for metrical encoding – in the form of reduced response bias when meter and motive matched – was found. Results support the metrical encoding hypothesis and suggest that the use of metrical encoding may develop with expertise.