The Origins of Music: Preface - Preface

Lateral Asymmetries in Processing

Asymmetries in brain structure and function are evident from the earli-

est days of life (e.g.,Witelson and Pallie 1973;Molfese and Molfese 1979;

Previc 1991).In dichotic listening tasks,infants generally exhibit the char-

acteristic right-ear (left hemisphere) advantage for speech and left-ear

(right hemisphere) advantage for music (Best,Hoffman,and Glanville

1982;Bertoncini et al.1989).The global approach to music processing has

been superseded by a componential approach,which revealed a left-ear

advantage for contour processing in adults and a right-ear advantage for

interval processing (Peretz and Morais 1980;Peretz 1987;Peretz and

Babaï 1992).Comparable lateral asymmetries have been documented for

infants age eight and a half months,with left-ear superiority for the per-

ception of contour and right-ear superiority for the perception of inter-

vals (Balaban,Anderson,and Wisniewski 1998).

Implications of Adult-Infant Similarities

Any one of these adult-infant similarities in itself could be considered

a mere coincidence.Taken together,however,these striking similarities

between infant listeners with minimal exposure to music and adult lis-

teners with extensive exposure make a compelling case for inherent

perceptual biases in relation to music,or “innate learning preferences”

(Marler 1990).These information-processing constraints are unlikely to

be limited to perceptual aspects of music but may also have implications

for the design of musical systems across cultures.As Nettl (1983) noted,

musical systems across cultures are considerably “more restricted than

the boundaries of the imaginable”(p.43).Undoubtedly,diversity exists,

but it is not unlimited.One consequence of musical cultures building on

perceptual processing predispositions is that exposure and training often

lead to progressive improvement in the skills that are favored by nature.

436 Sandra Trehub

Figure 23.6

The upper panel depicts the “good”rhythmic arrangement;the lower panel depicts the

“bad”rhythmic arrangement of the same tune.

Fig.23.6