Construct · 2 fields · 2 citations

Where does tuning collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, two constructs Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
tuning2 CONSTRUCTSTuning & temperamentHELMHOLTZ · TEMPERAMENTNeural tuningHUBEL & WIESEL · 1962

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1877Tuning & temperament1962Neural tuning
2026

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Music theory

Choosing the exact pitches of a scale

In music, tuning is the system of pitches used to play a scale, the choice of exact frequency ratios between notes, and the compromises (temperaments) that let a fixed-pitch instrument play acceptably in many keys. Helmholtz's On the Sensations of Tone grounded tuning in the physics of beats and consonance and the ear's response to combined tones. The referent is a set of pitch relationships and the trade-offs among them, specified by frequency ratios or cents, and it is a different construct from a neuron's response profile or a tuned electrical circuit, sharing only the meaning of being brought into adjustment.[1]

Unit
Pitch intervals as frequency ratios or cents within a temperament
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Specified by interval ratios and cents, and judged by beat rates between tones against a reference pitch

Neuroscience

A neuron fires most for its preferred stimulus

In neuroscience, tuning is the selectivity of a neuron for a particular feature, captured by a tuning curve that plots its firing rate against a stimulus dimension and peaks at the neuron's preferred value. Hubel and Wiesel's 1962 Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex showed that cortical cells are sharply tuned to the orientation of an edge. The referent is a response profile defining what a neuron is selective for, characterised by a preferred value and tuning width, and it is unrelated to musical temperament or a resonant circuit, joined to them only by the word.[2]

Unit
The tuning curve: preferred stimulus value and tuning width
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Mapped by recording firing rate across a stimulus dimension and fitting a tuning curve (preferred value and bandwidth)

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Nearby collisions

resonance6 fields · 13 citationsjingle · one name, six constructsselectivity4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, four constructscolumn1 fields · 2 citationsanchor · a standalone construct

References

  1. Helmholtz, H. L. F. von (1954). On the sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music (A. J. Ellis, Trans.). Dover Publications. (Original work published 1877) ISBN 9780486607535
  2. Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. The Journal of Physiology, 160(1), 106–154. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006837

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