UC Irvine Study Reveals New Characteristics for Music and Language Acquisition

Individuals with Williams syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental condition marked by low IQ and physical impairment, are more likely than the general population to have absolute pitch, a UC Irvine study has found.

In addition, people with this condition appear to have a greater larger window of time for developing this musical ability, differing significantly from the general population, which can only develop absolute pitch, also known as perfect pitch, through musical training during early childhood.

In a pilot study of five individuals with Williams syndrome, Howard M. Lenhoff, professor emeritus of biology, and his colleagues at UCI have found that their test subjects possess near ceiling levels of absolute pitch despite limited cognitive abilities. The study also provides further information on the neurological mechanisms involved in music and language acquisition. Their findings appear in the summer issue of the journal Music Perception.

Some 4,500 individuals in the United States and Canada have Williams syndrome. People with this rare condition are born lacking about 20 genes in Chromosome 7. In spite of cognitive and physical defects, Williams people show particular strength in using language and developing advanced musical abilities such as absolute pitch, which is the capacity to recognize, name and produce the pitch of a musical note.

"Our findings expand on the fact that a small number of genes can affect a large number of characteristics that define a specific population of individuals," Lenhoff said.

Roughly one in 10,000 people in Western populations have the ability to develop absolute pitch. Studies also show that this acumen only develops through childhood musical training between the ages of 3 and 6.

In his study, Lenhoff tested five individuals participating in a music camp for people with Williams syndrome. All five had varying levels of musical skills, and their ages ranged between 13 and 43 with an average IQ of 58. Only one had received musical training between the ages of 3 and 6, and none could read music. In more than 1,000 trial tests for identifying single notes, natural notes and the notes in harmonic dyads and triads, the group scored near ceiling levels (97.5 percent) of absolute pitch.

None of the test subjects were known to possess absolute pitch. The fact that all five did indicates that the percentage of Williams people with this ability surpasses that of the general population by at least tenfold. Lenhoff estimates that as many 30 percent of Williams people may have the ability to develop absolute pitch.

"In addition, since four out of five of these subjects received their musical training after the age of 6, it appears that the window of opportunity for Williams people to develop absolute pitch can extend into adulthood and perhaps indefinitely," Lenhoff said. "Because of this, studies with people having Williams syndrome should make it possible to develop new ways of exploring the neurological mechanisms fostering music and language acquisition in the human brain."

It is the current view of a number of cognitive scientists that the ability of absolute pitch helps young children master languages, especially multi-tonal ones such as Vietnamese and Mandarin.

Lenhoff's colleagues in the study included Gregory Hickok, associate professor of cognitive sciences, and Olegario Perales, both of UCI. The National Science Foundation and the Bernon Family Fund provided funding.

Contact:
Tom Vasich
(949) 824-6455
tmvasich@uci.edu

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