Octave equivalence describes the perception that notes separated by a doubling in frequency sound similar. While the octave is used cross-culturally as a basis of pitch perception, experimental demonstration of the phenomenon has proved to be difficult. In past work, members of our group developed a three-range generalization paradigm that reliably demonstrated octave equivalence. In this study we replicate and expand on this previous work trying to answer three questions that help us understand the origins and potential cross-cultural significance of octave equivalence: (1) whether training with three ranges is strictly necessary or whether an easier-to-learn two-range task would be sufficient, (2) whether the task could demonstrate octave equivalence beyond neighbouring octaves, and (3) whether language skills and musical education impact the use of octave equivalence in this task. We conducted a large-sample study using variations of the original paradigm to answer these questions. Results found here suggest that the three-range discrimination task is indeed vital to demonstrating octave equivalence. In a two-range task, pitch height appears to be dominant over octave equivalence. Octave equivalence has an effect only when pitch height alone is not sufficient. Results also suggest that effects of octave equivalence are strongest between neighbouring octaves, and that tonal language and musical training have a positive effect on learning of discriminations but not on perception of octave equivalence during testing. We discuss these results considering their relevance to future research and to ongoing debates about the basis of octave equivalence perception.

八度等效描述了被频率加倍分开的音符听起来相似的感觉。虽然八度音程在跨文化中被用作音高感知的基础，但事实证明这种现象的实验证明是困难的。在过去的工作中，我们小组的成员开发了一个三范围泛化范式，可靠地证明了倍频程等价性。在这项研究中，我们复制并扩展了之前的工作，试图回答三个问题，帮助我们理解八度等价的起源和潜在的跨文化意义：（1）三个范围的训练是否是绝对必要的，或者是否更容易-学习两个范围的任务就足够了，（2）该任务是否可以证明超出相邻八度音阶的八度音阶等效性，(3) 语言技能和音乐教育是否会影响八度等值在这项任务中的使用。我们使用原始范式的变体进行了大样本研究来回答这些问题。此处发现的结果表明，三范围辨别任务对于证明八度音程等效性确实至关重要。在两个范围的任务中，音高似乎比等效八度音高。仅当仅当音高不够时，八度等效才有效。结果还表明，八度等效的影响在相邻八度之间最强，并且音调语言和音乐训练对辨别学习有积极影响，但对测试期间对八度等效的感知没有影响。