Event-related potential correlates of auditory feedback control of vocal production in experienced singers

Considerable evidence has shown that experienced singers are capable of voluntarily suppressing vocal compensations for consistent pitch perturbations in auditory feedback. Our recent behavioral study found that singers also compensated for brief pitch perturbations to a lesser degree than nonsingers in an involuntary manner. In the present event-related potential study, we investigated the neural correlates of involuntary vocal pitch regulation in experienced singers. All participants were instructed to vocalize the vowel sounds while their voice was unexpectedly shifted in pitch by -50 and -200 cents. The results revealed decreased cortical N1 and P2 responses to pitch perturbations and reduced involuntary vocal compensations for singers when compared to nonsingers. Moreover, larger vocal responses were significantly correlated with smaller cortical P2 responses for nonsingers, whereas this brain-behavior relationship did not exist for singers. These findings demonstrate that the cortical processing of involuntary auditory-motor integration for vocal pitch regulation can be shaped as a function of singing experience, suggesting that experienced singers may be less influenced by auditory feedback and rely more on somatosensory feedback or feedforward control as a consequence of singing training as compared to nonsingers.