Enhanced visual and auditory inhibitory control in musicians: EEG evidence

Musicians' perceptual advantages are often concentrated in the auditory rather than the visual modality. However, whether the relationship between musical training and the core cognitive ability of inhibitory control exhibits auditory modality specificity remains unclear. To address this gap, the present study employed matched visual and auditory Go/No-go tasks combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to compare differences in inhibitory control between university students with long-term musical training (musical training group) and their untrained peers (control group). The results showed that in both visual and auditory inhibitory control tasks, even after controlling for eight potential confounding variables including age, socioeconomic status, IQ, and the Big Five personality traits, the musical training group not only demonstrated behavioral advantages (higher d' scores) but also exhibited enhanced neural activity during conflict monitoring (smaller N2 amplitudes and increased theta power) and motor inhibition (larger P3 amplitudes). These findings suggest a modality-general effect in the relationship between musical training and enhanced inhibitory control. Meanwhile, the musically trained group showed specific advantages only in the early processing stage of auditory stimuli, reflecting the potential strengthening effect of the auditory system brought about by musical experience. This study is the first to reveal, from a dual-modality perspective, the relationship between musical training and cross-modal inhibitory control. It contributes to our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms associated with musical training and provides empirical evidence for its potential applications in music therapy and education.