Event Related Potentials and the Musical Brain: The Effects of Music Preference and Music Training on Pre-attentive Stimulus Recognition (N200) and Memory Updating (P300) Processes

Previous behavioural research has consistently found enhanced cognitive function whilst listening to classical music; the so called Mozart Effect (Rauscher et al, 1993). However, to date it has proven difficult to draw firm conclusions from this literature because of the diversity of methods used. Indeed, two issues to be substantiated are the impact of own genre preference and type of music training, on the enhancing qualities of music. The present study employed event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine the effects of preference and training on known ERP markers related to stimulus identification and memory. Sixteen professional musicians from the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Scottish National Orchestra (classical group) and from the Glasgow School of Modern Guitar (rock group) completed a standard 2 stimulus visual oddbal