Abstract
Conclusions The result suggested that mother tongue Japanese and non- mother tongue Japanese differ in their pattern of brain dominance when listening to sounds from the natural world—in particular, insect sounds. These results reveal significant support for previous findings from Tsunoda (in 1970).Objectives This study concentrates on listeners who show clear evidence of a ‘speech’ brain vs a ‘music’ brain and determines which side is most active in the processing of insect sounds, using with near-infrared spectroscopy.Methods The present study uses 2-channel Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to provide a more direct measure of left- and right-brain activity while participants listen to each of three types of sounds: Japanese speech, Western violin music, or insect sounds. Data were obtained from 33 participants who showed laterality on opposite sides for Japanese speech and Western music.Results Results showed that a majority (80%) of the MJ participants exhibited dominance for insect sounds on the side that was dominant for language, while a majority (62%) of the non-MJ participants exhibited dominance for insect sounds on the side that was dominant for music.
Highlights
It is generally accepted that there are lateral asymmetries in the activities of the cerebral hemispheres during the perception of different types of sound
The result suggested that mother tongue Japanese and non- mother tongue Japanese differ in their pattern of brain dominance when listening to sounds from the natural world—in particular, insect sounds
This study concentrates on listeners who show clear evidence of a ‘speech’ brain vs a ‘music’ brain and determines which side is most active in the processing of insect sounds, using with near-infrared spectroscopy
Summary
It is generally accepted that there are lateral asymmetries in the activities of the cerebral hemispheres during the perception of different types of sound. In the early 1970s, a Japanese physician, Tadanobu Tsunoda, obtained experimental results that indicated a distinct difference between native speakers of Japanese and speakers of other Asian and Western languages in how the right and left cerebral hemispheres process vowels and sounds from nature, such as those made by insects [3,4]. These sounds tended to be processed in the left brain for Japanese speakers and in the right brain for speakers of the other languages. The lateralization of sounds from nature was thought to be related to cultural factors, with native Japanese speakers processing these sounds primarily in the ‘language brain’, while native speakers of the other language processed them primarily in the ‘music’ or ‘non-language brain’
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