AUDITORY BRAIN POTENTIALS IN MUSICIANS - EFFECTS OF ATTENTION, TASK-DIFFICULTY, AND EAR OF STIMULATIONS

Previous research has found differences between musicians and nonmusic ians on the P300 event-related potential. The possibility that P300 in these groups is differentially affected by task parameters has receiv ed little investigation. We evaluated the role of attention, difficult y of discrimination and ear of stimulation on P300 in musicians and no nmusicians as elicited in a pitch discrimination task. No significant effects were found for P300 amplitude or latency. Musicians had signif icantly shorter reaction times than nonmusicians in the difficult pitc h discrimination condition. Results suggest that musicians better abil ity to make subtle discriminations is not due to faster stimulus evalu ation. Rather, musicians may have enhanced certainty evaluation and/or motor processes.