Investigating the role of musical experience in lexical tone perception: non-musicians’ and amateur musicians’ perception of Mandarin tones

Previous studies have found that musicians typically discriminate Mandarin tones better than nonmusicians. However, the relationship between musical experience and tone perception is unclear. In the current study, 39 monolingual native English speakers with no previous experience of tone languages and a range of musical backgrounds (non-/ amateur musicians) completed 6 tasks, including lexical tone identification, working memory, L1/L2 segmental perception and the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index which measures musical ability/ experience. Path analysis showed that pitch interval discrimination (PID), but not musical ability or musical training, directly predicted tone identification. There was no relationship with working memory or L1/L2 segmental perception. Follow-up mixed effect models showed that Tone1 and Tone4 identification was associated with PID, musical ability and musical training, whereas Tone2 and Tone3 identification was only associated with musical training and PID respectively. Overall, musical training appears to be linked to PID, which in turn leads to better tone identification.