Music & Language Studies

ZATORRE, Robert J. “Musical Perception and Cerebral Function: A Critical Review.” Music Perception 2/2 (1984): 196-221.

Considers disappointing the lack of firm conclusions to be drawn from the experimental and clinical literature regarding hemispheric specialization for music and language.

All we are able to deduce is that musical deficits can occur independently of linguistic ones, but that the two are often associated. (197)

Presents new findings, based on a sodium Amytal paradigm, which indicate bilateral participation in singing. One difference between this study and earlier amylobarbitone ones is that Zatorre sought to measure singing ability at a given point during hemispheric depression rather than merely describe the time line of recovery of functioning. As he points out, a careful reading of reports, such as Gordon & Bogen (1974), indicates that singing was partly impaired by depression of either hemisphere. A thorough and critical review of the literature on hemispheric specializations for music and language follows. The two major conclusions drawn are: first, that hemispheric specialization for music is not as strong as that for language; and second, that there is a great deal of individual variation in the distribution of abilities across hemispheres, and across subjects.