Minutia that I find interesting but which most people reading this blog will probably find so boring that their eyes begin glazing over

I found an article a couple of weeks ago while digging around the university library and thought it was fascinating. They've apparently done studies on people with perfect pitch... which simply means that they are able to hear a note played on the piano or the guitar (or even the "note" of a running vacuum cleaner or hair dryer) and immediately tell you the name of the note on the scale. Anyway, here's some interesting information:

--Perfect pitch tends to predominate in females and showed up at a very early age.

--There is a strong correlation between the occurrence of perfect pitch and learning disabilities.

--In a sample of 30 healthy, right-handed professional musicians, those with perfect pitch had stronger leftward planum temporale asymmetry than nonmusicians or than musicians without perfect pitch. The left planum temporale regoin of the brain includes the Wernicke area, which is the seat of language comprehension. The extreme leftward bias in musicians with perfect pitch may be related to the ability to make the verbal association in identifying a particular note or pitch.

--Perfect pitch is probably not associated with one tiny area of the brain but rather may depend on the recruitment of a specialized network involved in the retrieval and manipulation of verbal-tonal associations.

--Early music training appeared to be necessary but not sufficient by itself for the development of perfect pitch. 40% of musicians who had begun training at 4 years of age or younger reported perfect pitch, but only 3% of those who had begun training at or after age 9 did so.

--People who have perfect pitch are 4 times more likely to have someone else in their family who also has perfect pitch.

--A subset of people with perfect pitch exhibit a high degree of mathematical and memory ability. In rare instances, they may exhibit unusual perceptual talents in other sensory realms such as taste or smell. A small fraction of individuals with perfect pitch also experience strong color associations with particular pitches, a phenomenon that is termed synesthesia.

--In a survey of 2707 music students showed a large variation in the prevalence of perfect pitch among different student groups. Students in the conservatory had about 25% with PP; university-based schools of music showed about 7%; and liberal arts music programs had about 5% with PP. There was a much higher incidence of PP among Asian music students (32%) than in other ethnic groups combined (7%). The high rate of PP among Asians was noted in all types of educational institutions.

I found this article on a website titled "Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man", or OMIM. It's a great resource, although most of it's a bit academic for people who aren't totally into genetics and stuff...