Interference in memory between tones adjacent in the musical scale.

Pitch recognition was required alter a 4-sec. delay during which 4 other tones were played. When the standard (S) and comparison (C) tones were identical in pitch, the inclusion of a tone in the intervening sequence that was a semitone higher or lower than the S tone produced an increase in errors. Including tones both a semitone higher and a semitone lower in the same intervening sequence produced a fur ther increase in errors. Analogous results were obtained when the S and C tones differed in pitch. However, when the critical intervening tone was identical in pitch to the C tone, errors were fu r the r increased.