Error monitoring and correction in violin performance: An EEG study

Ángel David Blanco ¹, Jordi Costa-Faidella ², Alfonso Pérez Carrillo ¹

⁰Music and Machine Learning Laboratory, Department of Information and Communications Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.

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July 11, 2025

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Neural error monitoring in musicians involves a fast system for quick corrections and a slow system for accumulating evidence. This study reveals distinct brain responses to mistuned notes in violinists, highlighting two error-monitoring systems.

Area Of Science

Neuroscience
Music Cognition
Auditory Perception

Background

Previous electroencephalography (EEG) studies on pianists identified neural error-related responses (f-ERN, P300) to mistuned notes.
Piano playing lacks auditory feedback for pitch correction, limiting understanding of error monitoring in other musicians like violinists and vocalists.

Purpose Of The Study

To investigate neural error monitoring processes in expert violinists using real-time pitch manipulation.
To explore the electroencephalography (EEG) correlates of error detection and correction in a fretless instrument context.

Main Methods

Collected EEG data from 15 expert violinists performing and listening to melodies.
Manipulated auditory feedback in real-time, altering pitch by half semitone during active playing.
Analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) including frontal event-related negativity (f-ERN) and P300.

Main Results

Mistuned notes, whether externally manipulated or self-produced, elicited an f-ERN followed by a P300.
f-ERN amplitude correlated positively with faster corrective movements.
Two novel negative components between f-ERN and P300 showed greater amplitude with slower corrective movements.

Conclusions

Identified two distinct error-monitoring systems: a fast system (medial frontal cortex) for high-certainty error correction and a slow system (posterior parietal cortex) for evidence accumulation under uncertainty.
Findings extend understanding of neural error monitoring beyond piano playing to string instruments and potentially other domains requiring fine motor control and auditory feedback.

Keywords:

ERN Error monitoring Music P300 Self-generation Violin