Zusammenfassung
Previously, professional violin players were found to automatically
discriminate tiny pitch changes, not discriminable by nonmusicians.
The present study addressed the pitch processing accuracy in musicians
with expertise in playing a wide selection of instruments (e.g.,
piano; wind and string instruments). Of specific interest was whether
also musicians with such divergent backgrounds have facilitated accuracy
in automatic and/or attentive levels of auditory processing. Thirteen
professional musicians and 13 nonmusicians were presented with frequent
standard sounds and rare deviant sounds (0.8, 2, or 4\% higher in
frequency). Auditory event-related potentials evoked by these sounds
were recorded while first the subjects read a self-chosen book and
second they indicated behaviorally the detection of sounds with deviant
frequency. Musicians detected the pitch changes faster and more accurately
than nonmusicians. The N2b and P3 responses recorded during attentive
listening had larger amplitude in musicians than in nonmusicians.
Interestingly, the superiority in pitch discrimination accuracy in
musicians over nonmusicians was observed not only with the 0.8\%
but also with the 2\% frequency changes. Moreover, also nonmusicians
detected quite reliably the smallest pitch changes of 0.8\%. However,
the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a recorded during a reading condition
did not differentiate musicians and nonmusicians. These results suggest
that musical expertise may exert its effects merely at attentive
levels of processing and not necessarily already at the preattentive
levels.
- acoustic
- discrimination,pitch
- discrimination:
- methods,adult,auditory,auditory:
- physiology,evoked
- physiology,music,musicality,neuro,perception,pitch
- physiology,reaction
- potentials,female,humans,male,music,pitch
- stimulation,acoustic
- stimulation:
- time,reaction
- time:
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