How does sound influence visuo-motorics in professional pianists, an EEG-study.

Abstract

Abstract: The congruency effect has mainly been studied in linguistics, but the existence in music has never been investigated. By the use of electroencephalography (EEG) this exploratory study aims at studying the influence of sound on visuo-motor integration in professional pianists, while focussing on the congruency effect. Auditory and visual stimulus pairs of single music notes were presented with different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) of 100ms and 300ms. Trials were presented in two different block, in which one required a motor response (active) and the other did not require a motor response (passive). The congruency effect has been investigated by focussing on two EEG-components: the N400 and Gamma Band Activity (GBA). In the shortest SOA condition (-100ms), incongruent stimulus pairs evoked a higher peak of the N400 compared to congruent stimulus pairs. Focussing on GBA, in the passive block a higher level of activity was found in frontal regions compared to parietal regions. Conceivably, our results indicate a possible presence of the congruency effect in music and a difference in level of GBA between frontal and parietal regions while presenting (in)congruent stimulus pairs of single music notes.