Web-based Testing of Congenital Amusia with the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia

In this article we present the results of a web-based testing of 117German undergraduate students with the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA; Peretz et al. 2003). The MBEA is used to assess congenital amusia, a neuro-developmental disorder present in approximately 4% of the population, according to Kalmus & Fry(1980). Recently, criticism has arisen concerning the usage of the MBEA in relation to the prevalence of congenital amusia in the general population and the statistical evaluation of the results (Henry& McAuley, 2010; 2013, Pfeifer & Hamann 2015).We compare the results of our web-based study to a group of 111German students that was tested with a computer-implemented MBEA version under laboratory conditions (Pfeifer & Hamann 2015).We found significant differences between the web-based and the laboratory group based on their sum of correct responses. A Signal Detection Theory analysis of the data, which factors out response bias, however, shows that the discriminatory ability of both groups seems to be fairly similar. The results of the current study are used to critically discuss the validity of a web-based MBEA specifically butal so web-based testing more generally as a means of diagnosing congenital amusia.