Non-Verbal Paradigm for Assessing Individuals for Absolute Pitch

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Kupferstein, H. & Walsh, B. J. (2015). Non-Verbal Paradigm for Assessing Individuals for Absolute Pitch. World Futures, 72(7-8), 390-405. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2014.989780

Publication date: 17 Jun 2015 Added to AutiHub: 5 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)

Abstract

Autistic individuals have been observed to demonstrate high intelligence through musical communication, leading to many empirical studies on this topic. Absolute Pitch (AP) has been a captivating phenomenon for researchers, although there has been disagreement regarding AP percentages among the population and appropriate testing methods for AP. This study analyzed data collected from 118 people, using a pitch matching paradigm designed specifically to be inclusive of those who are likely to have note-naming difficulty due to communication challenges. Thirty-eight participants were autistic individuals, 32% of which were considered to have severe language impairment. Twelve other participants had other developmental disorders. All but 1 of the 38 autistics (97%) demonstrated exceptional and instantaneous pitch matching abilities on piano. Ten of the 12 (83%) with other developmental disorders demonstrated this ability, and approximately half (53%) of neurotypicals were able to exhibit this ability. Our numbers indicate that with a more inclusive paradigm for assessing AP, it may be demonstratable in close to 50% of the population, and near 100% in the autistic population. This testing method represents a neurodiversity-friendly and fully inclusive, non-verbal paradigm for demonstrating AP.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 01:04.

Cited references
75
With a DOI
61
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
13
3 / 75 (4.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 75 (6.7%)
References with detected author names
72 / 75 (96.0%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
4
Without a stable identifier
12
References with raw author names still to review
2
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
178
From DOI or external metadata
178
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
32 / 178 (18.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 146 / 178 (82.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
3 / 178 (1.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 3 / 32 (9.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 147 (0.7%).
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