material to be heard by the left ear and accompanying low-pitched mate-
rial to be heard by the right ear.Subjects expressed astonishment at how
remarkable the effect of changing the lever was,and several commented
that one left-right arrangement appeared highly differentiated,whereas
the other seemed more blurred.These results were significant for men
but not women musicians,which is consistent with other studies dis-
cussed below.Men and Women Process Music Differently
The studies discussed above show that,like various aspects of language,
components of musical processing are highly lateralized in the human
brain.As a generalization,melody and chords appear to be processed
holistically by the right hemisphere,whereas analyses involving brief
sequences of discrete sounds,(e.g.,rhythm) depend relatively more on
the analytical left hemisphere.Singing,on the other hand,appears to
engage the cortex bilaterally if words are involved,but depends differ-
ently on the right hemisphere if they are not.As we have seen,the degree
to which these generalizations hold varies with the extent of musical
training,and it is suggested that musicians are more analytical in pro-
cessing certain aspects of music,for which they rely more than other
people on their left hemisphere.
Another important factor is gender.Hundreds of behavioral and
anatomical studies showed that men’s brains are,on average,more lat-
eralized than those of women (for reviews see Falk 1987,1997;McGlone
1980).Furthermore,well-known differences between men and women
on average performances of verbal,higher mathematical,social,and
visuospatial skills are probably related at least in part to these differ-
ences in lateralization (McGlone 1980).What about gender and the neu-
rological underpinnings of musical abilities? A study investigating which
hemisphere benefits most from musical training revealed an interesting
gender difference (Selby et al.1982).Right-handed subjects were asked
to judge whether two sequences of six tones were the same or different,
and error scores were compared for each ear.As predicted,right ears
of untrained subjects performed better than left ears.Musical training,
however,benefited both ears of women,but only the left ear of men.
Thus, musically trained men, but not women, seem to be right-
hemisphere dominant for analyzing sequences of tones.These findings
are concordant with generalizations that cognitive processing in women
is less lateralized than that of men,and that men musicians prefer leading
instruments of an orchestra to be delivered to their right hemisphere
(Shannon 1984).
Another intriguing study that addresses gender differences in musical
processing used a time-sharing interference paradigm in which changes208 Dean Falk