The aim of this study was to analyse whether specialised musical training influences auditory discrimination, working memory, learning strategies and academic performance. Sixty students (30 with at least four years of musical training and 30 without) of the same socioeconomic level were compared. Significant differences were found between students with and without musical training in terms of learning strategies, working memory and academic performance (p= <.05). This study shows the benefits of musical training offered at specialised centres, the development of students’ cognitive skills and the contributions of neuroscience to improving professional practice.

Since the early 1990s, the auditory change-detection response, mismatch negativity (MMN) and its magnetoencephalographic (MEG) equivalent MMNm have been applied in a large number of studies on schizophrenia. These studies have enhanced our understanding of the central auditory dysfunction underlying schizophrenia. The attenuation of the MMN amplitude is a systematic and robust neurophysiological finding in these patients. The gradual attenuation of the MMN amplitude resulting from frequency change reflects the progress of the disease, particularly the impairment occurring as a function of illness duration, whereas the MMN deficiency for duration change may be more closely linked to the genetic aspect of the illness. Electroencephalographic (EEG) and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) studies, together, suggest that both the temporal and frontal cortices contributing to MMN generation are affected in schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, abnormalities in auditory perception and discrimination revealed by a deficient temporal MMN generator process might be associated with patients' positive symptoms, whereas the dampened frontal attention-switching function, suggested by the attenuated responses of the frontal MMN generator, might contribute to the negative symptoms such as social withdrawal. In addition, gradual MMN amplitude reduction, in particular that for frequency change, reflects cognitive and functional impairment occurring as a function of illness duration. Finally, as MMN can be detected even in animals such as the mouse, it might provide a useful biomarker for assessing the effects of the drugs developed to fight the cognitive and functional impairments in schizophrenia patients.

In this study we compared the amplitude, latency, and spatial distribution of the mismatch negativity (MMN), elicited by tones deviating in either frequency, intensity, stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) or location, and assessed inter- and intra-subject variability. Cross-dimensional comparisons were facilitated by adjusting the magnitude of deviance individually, so that the detection rates were similar, both across dimensions (within subject) and across subjects (within dimension). Despite similar detection rates, the MMN elicited by frequency deviance was larger, and the MMN elicited by SOA deviance was earlier than the other types of MMN. The reliability of frequency-related MMN was better than that of the other types of MMN. The results highlight the problems of comparing MMN across dimensions, especially in clinical populations.