Mode of processing and hemisphere differences in the judgement of musical stimuli

The relationship between processing strategy and ear asymmetry was examined in two experiments in which subjects were required to make judgements about monoaurally presented musical chords. In the first experiment, subjects without musical training showed a significant left ear advantage while in those with musical training a significant shift towards a right ear advantage was observed. Performance on the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) suggested a strong relationship between analytic processing style and right ear advantage which was significant in the musician groups. The effect of musical training status on ear asymmetry continued to be significant when the scores were adjusted for analytic processing. There was also a clear relationship between self-reported listening strategies and direction of ear asymmetry, with musicians generally reporting a much greater use of analytic strategies. The second experiment failed to demonstrate a significant influence of explicit instructions in how to carry out a chords task on the direction of ear advantages in musically untrained subjects. The results partially confirm earlier studies comparing subjects with and without musical training, and extend them by demonstrating a clear relationship between ear advantage and a separate measure of processing strategy. The findings of the second experiment, however, do not support clearly the hypothesis that differences in ear asymmetry are produced through the use of different processing strategies.