Music & Language Studies

KIMURA, Doreen. “Functional Asymmetry of the Brain in Dichotic Listening.” Cortex 3 (1967): 163-178.

Explains the methodology and findings of dichotic listening experiments on adults and children. Establishes that left-hemisphere dominance for language appears as early as four years old (the youngest subjects tested), on the basis of dichotic listening techniques. Points the way toward future studies:

By varying the stimulus dimensions, we may be able to define more explicitly just what characteristics differentiate stimuli depending more for their perception on the left hemisphere, from those depending more on the right hemisphere. That is, we can ask which stimulus characteristics are associated with a right- or a left-ear superiority. (173)

However, in discussing different types of stimuli, and their definition as verbal or nonverbal, she writes:

To say that they are verbal stimuli and that verbal processes are vested in the left hemisphere is only an apparent explanation, since it is not at all clear what verbal activity consists in. (176)

And, further, she notes:

Investigators… have suggested that much of speech is perceived by reference to articulation experience. Conceivably, then, the features of speech sounds which distinguish them from non-speech sounds are related to articulability rather than to conceptual content. (177)

In this light, it would be interesting to study how subjects would perceive different sorts of stimuli ranging from normal speech through various types and styles of singing. One might expect to find different results for trained singers and non-singers, in terms of their experience producing such varied sounds. One might expect to find different breaks in perception from the general population, due to broader corresponding articulatory experience.