EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL (ERP) STUDY OF MUSICAL EXPECTANCY - COMPARISON OF MUSICIANS WITH NONMUSICIANS

Musicians and nonmusicians listened to musical phrases that were eithe r selected from the classical repertoire or composed for the experimen ts. The phrases ended either congruously or with a nondiatonic, diaton ic, or rhythmic violation. Percentage of correct responses was analyze d in Experiment 1, and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded i n Experiments 2 and 3. Musicians performed better than nonmusicians in recognizing familiar musical phrases and classifying terminal notes. The differences found as a function of expertise were larger for unfam iliar than for familiar melodies. The ERPs to the end notes differed b oth in terms of amplitude and latency between musicians and nonmusicia ns, and as a function of participants' familiarity with the melodies a nd type of violation. Results show that expertise influences the decis ional rather than the purely perceptual aspects of music processing an d that ERPs can provide important insight into the study of music perc eption.