The hemispheric specialisation in the affective appraisal of music

Humans are not symmetrical. Asymmetries are observed in differences in everything from the size of a person's feet through to hand preferences for motor tasks. There are also well known neurological asymmetries, for example language processing occurs predominantly in the left-hemisphere. This study investigated the influence of language and hemispheric asymmetries in appraising music. Monolingual English speakers (N= 40) were presented music clips, with native, foreign language or no lyrics, to the left or right ear and asked to indicate how pleasant they found the clip. Music was appraised as more unpleasant when presented to the left ear and instrumental music was more pleasant than music with lyrics. Response times were faster for music with native lyrics compared to instrumentals. These results indicate neurological asymmetries for affective appraisals and underscore the influence of language in these appraisals. The findings are interpreted as consistent with the Valence Model of emotional lateralisation