Electrophysiological and Behavioral Working Memory Differences Between Musicians and Non-Musicians

The current study is an examination of P300 differences between musicians and non-musician groups during a visual oddball task, in addition to behavioral subtests of the TOMAL-2 measuring visual and auditory working memory. Previous research has demonstrated higher amplitude P300 waveforms with shorter latencies of P300 onset in musician groups, indicating a more sensitive and accurate stimulus detection system. Fluctuations of P300 amplitude and latency activity near parietal areas have been used to quantify differences in updating processes of working memory possibly associated with differences in amounts of music experience. The current study is designed to partially replicate a method previously implemented by George and Coch (2011) in order to contribute to the body of research describing how music experience may be associated with differences in visual processing as well as auditory working memory. Behavioral data will be collected using six standardized subtest measures of the TOMAL-2, followed by event-related potential (ERP) recordings during a large and small circle visual oddball task. The current study hypothesizes musicians will score significantly higher on the TOMAL-2 and record shorter latency with higher P300 amplitudes associated with greater amounts of music experience in areas previously associated with working memory processing