Investigating the effects of musical training on functional brain development with a novel Melodic MMN paradigm

•The mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects memory-based auditory discrimination.•A number of studies have found larger MMNs in adult musicians than in non-musicians.•MMNs to changes musical sounds were enlarged in musically trained children by age 13.•No group differences were found at early stages of training at age 9.•Musical training enhances the development of neural auditory discrimination.

Sensitivity to changes in various musical features was investigated by recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) auditory event-related potential (ERP) in musically trained and nontrained children semi-longitudinally at the ages of 9, 11, and 13 years. The responses were recorded using a novel Melodic multi-feature paradigm which allows fast (<15 min) recording of an MMN profile for changes in melody, rhythm, musical key, timbre, tuning and timing. When compared to the nontrained children, the musically trained children displayed enlarged MMNs for the melody modulations by the age 13 and for the rhythm modulations, timbre deviants and slightly mistuned tones already at the age of 11. Also, a positive mismatch response elicited by delayed tones was larger in amplitude in the musically trained than in the nontrained children at age 13. No group differences were found at the age 9 suggesting that the later enhancement of the MMN in the musically trained children resulted from training and not pre-existing difference between the groups. The current study demonstrates the applicability of the Melodic multi-feature paradigm in school-aged children and indicates that musical training enhances auditory discrimination for musically central sound dimensions in pre-adolescence.