Cerebral dominance in musicians and nonmusicians

Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 94-97

  Bever, Thomas G ^a   Chiarello, Robert J ^a  

^a Och Spine at New York Presbyterian Hospitals   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; AUDITORY STIMULATION; HEARING; HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE; HUMAN; MUSICIAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PSYCHOTHERAPY;

EID: 64949143742     PISSN: 08950172     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1176/jnp.2009.21.1.94     Document Type: Article

References (20)

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3. B. Milner, #iBr. Med. Bull.##i #b27##b, 272 (1971).
4. Perception of patterns: D. Kimura, #iNeuropsychologia##i #b4##b, 273 (1966). Letter arra G. Cohen, #iJ. Exp. Psychol.##i #b97##b, 349 (1973). Face recognition: J. Levy #iet al.##i (5; G. Rizzolati, C. Umilta, G. Berlucci, #iBrain##i #b94##b, 431 (1971); G. Geffen, J. L. Bradshaw, G. Wallace, #iJ. Exp. Psychol.##i #b87##b, 415 (1971). Spatial configurations: D. Kimura, #iCan. J. Psychol.##i #b23##b 445 (1969); M. Durnford and D. Kimura, #iNature (Lond.)##i #b231##b, 394 (1071). Chords: H. W. Gordon (6); D. Molfese, paper presented at the 84th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Miami Beach, Florida, 1 December 1972. Environmental sounds: F. L. King and D. Kimura, #iCan. J. Psychol.##i #b26##b, 2 (1972). Pitch and intensity: D. C. Doehring, #iibid.##i, p. 106. Emotional tone of voice: M. P. Haggard, #iQ. J. Exp. Psychol.##i #b23##b, 168 (1971). Also, recalled words ordered in sentences show right ear dominance, and unordered word strings do not: D. Bakker, #iCortex##i #b5##b, 36 (1969); T. G. Bever, in #iBiological and Social Factors in Psycholinguistics##i, J. Morton, Ed. (Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1971); A. Frankfurther and R. P. Honeck, #iQ. J. Exp. Psychol.##i #b25##b, 138 (1973).
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7. D. Shankwieler, #iJ. Comp. Physiol. Psychol.##i #b62##b, 115 (1966); M. S. Gazzagniga and R. W. Sperry, #iBrain##b #b90##b, 131 (1967); J. E. Bogen, #iBull. Los Ang. Neurol. Soc.##i #b34##b, 135 (19XX); J. Levy-Agresti and R. W. Sperry, #iProc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.##i #b61##b, 1151 (1968); R. D. Nebes, thesis, California Institute of Technology (1970); #iCortex##i #b4##b, 333 (1971); B. Milner and L. Taylor, #iNeuropsychologia##i #b10##b, 1 (1972); J. Bogen, in #iDrugs and Cerebral Function##i, W. L. Smith, Ed. (Thomas, Springfield, Ill., 1972), pp. 36-37.
8. B. Milner, in #iInterhemispheric Relations and Cerebral Dominance##i, V . B. Mountcastle, Ed. (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, 1961).
9. We follow the common assumption that contralateral hemisphere-periphery neurological connections are dominant over ipsilateral connections; that is the left hemisphere is functionally connected to the right ear, and the right ear is functionally connected to the left ear [D. Kimura, #iQ. J. Exp. Psychol.##i #b16##b, 355 (1964); C. F. Darwin, #iibid.##i #b23##b, 46 (1971); F. J. Spellacy and S. Blumstein, #iJ. Acoust. Soc. Am.##i #b49##b, 87 (19XX); O. Spreen, F. Spellacy, J. Reid, #iNeuropsychologia##i #b8##b, 243 (1970); D. Kimura (10)]. See also J. Bogen and H. Gordon [#iNature (Lond.)##i #b230##b, 524 (1971)] for clinical evidence for the involvement of right hemisphere functioning in singing.
10. D. Kimura, #iCortex##i #b3##b, 163 (1967).
11. This modality view is explored by D. Kimura (10); #iSci. Am.##i #b229##b, 70 (March 1973).
12. For a similar differentiation of hemispheric function in vision and language, see J. Levy #iet al.##i (5) and B. Milner (3).
13. Melody perception is a classic gestalt demonstration [C. von Ehrenfels, #iVierteljahrsschr. Wiss. Philos.##i (1890), vol. 14; Z. #iAngew. Psychol.##i #b26##b, 101 (1926); H. Meissner, #iZur Entwicklung Des Musikalischen Sinns Beim Kind Waehrend Des Schulalters##i (Trorvitzsch, Berlin, 1914); F. Brehmer, #iBeih. Z. Angew. Psychol.##i (1925), pp. 36 and 37; H. Werner, #iJ. Psychol.##i #b10##b, 149 (1940)]. For recent investigations, see: W. J. Dowling, #iPercept. Psycho-phys.##i #b9##b, 348 (1971); D. Deutsch, #iibid.##i #b11##b, 411 (1972).
14. H. Werner, #iComparative Psychology of Mental Development##i (International Universities Press, New York, 1948).
15. L. Meyer, #iEmotion and Meaning in Music##i (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1956).
16. H. W. Gordon (6). The subjects in this study were probably intermediate in musical sophistication; accordingly, they did not show a consistent left or right ear superiority. We would expect individual differences in sucha population to be quite large.
17. Right-handedness was checked by a modified questionnaire from H. Hecaen and J. Ajuriaguerra, #iLeft-Handedness: Manual Superiority and Cerebral Dominance##i (Grune & Stratton, New York, 1964).
18. The formula used was True positives (%) - False positives (%) 1 - False positives (%) The results are tested nonparamentrically across subjects and stimuli separately for reasons outlined by H. Clark [#iJ. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav.##i #b12##b, 4 (1973)]. In each case, the by-subject test is a Fisher exact test, and the by-stimulus test is a Wilcoxon matchedpairs, signed-ranks, two-tailed test. There were no significant differences between ears in guessing rates by either measure.
19. The 20 choirboys were in the choir of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. The choir is of professional quality: the boys sing and rehearse about 14 hours a week. The nonchoir, nonmusical boys were drawn from the same school (the Cathedral School) and matched the choirboys in age and school grade (T. Bever, R. Chiarello, L. Kellar, in preparation).
20. We thank A. Handel of Columbia University, J. Barlow and A. Strong of Wesleyan University, and S. Neff of Barnard College for their assistance. Supported by grants from the Grant Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.