Musical prediction error responses similarly reduced by predictive uncertainty in musicians and non-musicians

TY - JOUR

T1 - Musical prediction error responses similarly reduced by predictive uncertainty in musicians and non-musicians

AU - Quiroga Martinez, David Ricardo

AU - Hansen, Niels Chr.

AU - Højlund, Andreas

AU - Pearce, Marcus

AU - Brattico, Elvira

AU - Vuust, Peter

PY - 2020/6

Y1 - 2020/6

N2 - Auditory prediction error responses elicited by surprising sounds can be reliably recorded with musical stimuli that are more complex and realistic than those typically employed in EEG or MEG oddball paradigms. However, these responses are reduced as the predictive uncertainty of the stimuli increases. In this study, we investigate whether this effect is modulated by musical expertise. Magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) responses were recorded from 26 musicians and 24 non‐musicians while they listened to low‐ and high‐uncertainty melodic sequences in a musical multi‐feature paradigm that included pitch, slide, intensity, and timbre deviants. When compared to non‐musicians, musically trained participants had significantly larger pitch and slide MMNm responses. However, both groups showed comparable reductions of pitch and slide MMNm amplitudes in the high‐uncertainty condition compared to the low‐uncertainty condition. In a separate, behavioral deviance detection experiment, musicians were more accurate and confident about their responses than non‐musicians, but deviance detection in both groups was similarly affected by the uncertainty of the melodies. In both experiments, the interaction between uncertainty and expertise was not significant, suggesting that the effect is comparable in both groups. Consequently, our results replicate the modulatory effect of predictive uncertainty on prediction error; show that it is present across different types of listeners; and suggest that expertise‐related and stimulus‐driven modulations of predictive precision are dissociable and independent.

AB - Auditory prediction error responses elicited by surprising sounds can be reliably recorded with musical stimuli that are more complex and realistic than those typically employed in EEG or MEG oddball paradigms. However, these responses are reduced as the predictive uncertainty of the stimuli increases. In this study, we investigate whether this effect is modulated by musical expertise. Magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) responses were recorded from 26 musicians and 24 non‐musicians while they listened to low‐ and high‐uncertainty melodic sequences in a musical multi‐feature paradigm that included pitch, slide, intensity, and timbre deviants. When compared to non‐musicians, musically trained participants had significantly larger pitch and slide MMNm responses. However, both groups showed comparable reductions of pitch and slide MMNm amplitudes in the high‐uncertainty condition compared to the low‐uncertainty condition. In a separate, behavioral deviance detection experiment, musicians were more accurate and confident about their responses than non‐musicians, but deviance detection in both groups was similarly affected by the uncertainty of the melodies. In both experiments, the interaction between uncertainty and expertise was not significant, suggesting that the effect is comparable in both groups. Consequently, our results replicate the modulatory effect of predictive uncertainty on prediction error; show that it is present across different types of listeners; and suggest that expertise‐related and stimulus‐driven modulations of predictive precision are dissociable and independent.

KW - expertise

KW - mismatch negativity

KW - music

KW - precision

KW - MISMATCH NEGATIVITY

U2 - 10.1111/ejn.14667

DO - 10.1111/ejn.14667

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31891423

SN - 0953-816X

VL - 51

SP - 2250

EP - 2269

JO - European Journal of Neuroscience

JF - European Journal of Neuroscience

IS - 11

ER -