• PhD, Ohio State University

I am interested in the way in which the mind organizes sequences of events in real time during production and perception. I am particularly interested in sensorimotor interactions that occur during the production of complex sequences such as music and speech. Specific research programs include the way in which people use the sounds they create (auditory feedback) to maintain fluency in production, individual differences in the vocal imitation of pitch, the role of memory retrieval in production, and the way in which sequence structure guides the perception of sequences.

Books

• Tan, S. L., Pfordresher, P. Q., & Harré, R. (2026). Psychology of music: From sound to significance (3rd Edition). London: Routledge. 
• Pfordresher, P. Q. (2019). Sound and action in music performance. San Diego, CA: Elsevier and Academic Press.

Journal Articles

• Greenspon, E. B., Pruitt, T. A., Halpern, A. R., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2025). Effects of vocal-motor interference on vocal pitch imitation. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 87, 1717-1728.
• Saltsman, T. L., Pruitt, T. A., Pfordresher, P. Q., & Seery, M. D. (2025). Singing your heart out: Singing pitch accuracy is associated with cardiovascular responses of task engagement and challenge/threat during vocal performance. Music Perception, 43, 61-75.
• Vollweiler, D. J., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2025). Just can’t get you out of my head: Associations between musical imagery, singing accuracy, and music perception. Music Perception, 43, 1-12.
• Pfordresher, P. Q. & Greenspon, E. B. (2025). Effects of pitch range on singing accuracy training. Musicae Scientiae, 29, 240-255.
• Chen, Y., Tierney, A., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2025). Speech-to-song transformation in perception and production. Cognition, 24, 105933.
• Wang, L., Pfordresher, P. Q., Jiang, C., & Liu, F. (2024). Atypical vocal imitation of speech and song in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from Mandarin speakers. Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice, 29, 408-423.
• Coleman, N. C., Palmer, C., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2024). Spontaneous production rates in song and speech. Music & Science, 7, 20592043241279056.
• Van Hedger, S., Halpern, A. R., Vollweiler, D. J., Smith, E. E., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2024). Is Hey Jude in the right key? Cognitive components of absolute pitch memory. Memory & Cognition, 52, 1142-1151.
  
• Ozaki, Y., Tierney, A., Pfordresher, P. Q., McBride, J. M., Benetos, E., Proutskouva, P., Chiba, G., Liu, F., Jacoby, N., Purdy, S. C., Opondo, P., Fitch, W. T., .,... & Savage, P. E. [75 authors] (2024). Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower, higher, and use more stable pitches than speech: A registered report. Science Advances, 10, eadm9797.
  
• Greenspon, E. G., Gentile, A. M., Pruitt, T. A., Halpern, A. R., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2023). Subvocalization during preparatory and non-preparatory auditory imagery. Auditory Perception & Cognition, 6, 108-127.
  
• Honda, C., Pruitt, T. A., Greenspon, E. B., Liu, F., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2023). The effect of musical training and language background on vocal imitation of pitch in speech and song. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 49, 1296-1309. 
• Berglin, J., Pfordresher, P. Q., & Demorest, S. M. (2022). The effect of visual and auditory feedback on adult poor-pitch remediation. Psychology of Music, 50, 1077-1090. 
• Pfordresher, P. Q. (2022). Singing accuracy across the lifespan. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1515, 120-128. 
• Pfordresher, P. Q. (2022). A reversal of the song advantage in vocal pitch imitation. JASA Express Letters, 2, 034401. 
• Pfordresher, P. Q., Mantell, J. T., & Pruitt, T. A. (2022). Effects of intention in the imitation of sung and spoken pitch. Psychological Research, 86, 792-807.