EAR DIFFERENCES IN EVALUATING EMOTIONAL OVERTONES OF UNFAMILIAR SPEECH BY JAPANESE AND ISRAELIS

Abstract

Forty Japanese and 31 Israeli students evaluated the intensity of positive and negative emotional overtones of unfamiliar speech passages delivered to one ear, while hearing white noise in the other ear. The results indicated that (1) the Israelis evaluated as more intense the negative overtones, while the Japanese evaluated both positive and negative overtones as being about equally intense; (2) that the emotional overtones were evaluated as more intense in the left ear by the Japanese, and in the right ear by the Israelis; and (3) that females evaluated as relatively more intense the negative overtones, while males evaluated both overtones as being equally intense. The findings are discussed in terms of possible cultural effects on cerebral function.