Cerebral lateralization of unfamiliar music perception in nonmusicians.

Abstract

Patterns of cerebral lateralization of unfamiliar music were examined in a group of nonmusicians. A dual-task design procedure that controls for attentional tradeoff effects in a concurrent motor and music processing task was used to determine laterality effects. A pattern of asymmetric interference for melody perception of unfamiliar music was observed among 20 right-handed, musically naive subjects. Significant right-hand tapping suppression during a concurrent melody processing task revealed asymmetrical interference between concurrent tasks in the absence of any attentional tradeoff effects. These results suggest that the cognitive processing involved in complex, unfamiliar melody perception among dextrals is largely lateralized to the left hemisphere. They further demonstrate the feasibility of the dual-task paradigm for studying music lateralization.