No abstract

Music performance is an extremely rapid process with low incidence of errors even at the fast rates of production required. This is possible only due to the fast functioning of the self-monitoring system. Surprisingly, no specific data about error monitoring have been published in the music domain. Consequently, the present study investigated the electrophysiological correlates of executive control mechanisms, in particular error detection, during piano performance. Our target was to extend the previous research efforts on understanding of the human action-monitoring system by selecting a highly skilled multimodal task. Pianists had to retrieve memorized music pieces at a fast tempo in the presence or absence of auditory feedback. Our main interest was to study the interplay between auditory and sensorimotor information in the processes triggered by an erroneous action, considering only wrong pitches as errors. We found that around 70 ms prior to errors a negative component is elicited in the event-related potentials and is generated by the anterior cingulate cortex. Interestingly, this component was independent of the auditory feedback. However, the auditory information did modulate the processing of the errors after their execution, as reflected in a larger error positivity (Pe). Our data are interpreted within the context of feedforward models and the auditory-motor coupling.

We propose a heuristic model that may explain the relatively high incidence of focal dystonia in musicians. This model assumes the coactions between a predominantly genetically determined predisposition and intrinsic and extrinsic triggering factors.

We present the long-term outcome of 144 musicians with focal dystonia after treatment with botulinum toxin (n = 71), trihexiphenidyl (n = 69), pedagogical retraining (n = 24), ergonomic changes (n = 51), or nonspecific exercises on the instrument (n = 78). Outcome was assessed by patients' subjective rating of cumulative treatment response and response to individual therapies. Seventy-seven patients (54%) reported an alleviation of symptoms: 33% of the patients with trihexiphenidyl, 49% with botulinum toxin, 50% with pedagogical retraining, 56% with unmonitored technical exercises, and 63% with ergonomic changes.