Hemispheric laterality in music and math

Abstract

Hemispheric laterality may be a useful concept in teaching, learning, training, and in understanding more about human development. To address this issue, a measure of hemispheric laterality was compared to musical and mathematical ability. The Human Information Processing Survey (HIPS) instrument, designed to measure hemispheric laterality, was administered to 101 participants who were then asked to provide a measure of their conceptual aptitude for mathematics and music. Scores were then compared through canonical correlation to test the hypothesis that perceived mathematical ability may be explained by left-brain hemisphere preference and musical by the right hemisphere. A relatively strong correlation was found between music ability and right-brain hemisphere preference. A relationship between math and left-brain hemisphere preference or integrated brain processing scores was found to be marginal. Ramifications to learning are discussed.Keywords Laterality Á Learning Á Hemispheric preference Á Brain hemisphere preference Á Brain hemisphere dominance Á Self-knowledge Á Self-inquiry Á Self-concept Á Music Á Mathematics From the time of Socrates, the human mind was thought of as consisting of two conceptual components, one part responsible for reasoning, the other absent of reason (Hattie 1992; Rouse 1956). Others including Hobbes, Pavlov, and Freud partitioned the brain into two categories, an ordered, directed half and an unordered or non-concrete half (Mayer 1977). In the early to mid-1800s, the concept of cerebral localization for certain functions was argued throughout the French and German scientific community (Springer and Deutch 2001). Researchers including Franz Gall, Paul Broca, and Marc Dax were at the center of the controversy, adding support to the concept of localized function with the brain. By the turn of the twentieth century, brain hemisphericity was, for all practical purposes,

Handedness and musicality in secondary school students

“…Many other studies have found right hemisphere dominance for a range of musical tasks (e.g. melody: Kimura, 1964;pitch and loudness: Nachson, 1978; self-perceived musical ability: Szirony, Burgin & Pearson, 2008).…”

A completion mindset: Bridging the gap between creative thinking and creativity.

“…Flexibility or brain efficiency is related to brain hemisphericity [hemispheric lateralization], often called brain coherence (Garrison, 2003; Griffiths, Ryan, & Foster, 2011), or the ability to freely switch between brain hemispheres, where the left hemisphere generally responds to language and the right hemisphere to spatiality (Anderson, 2010; Gier, Kreiner, Solso, & Cox, 2009; Stankov et al, 2006; Taggart & Torrance, 1984). Thinking abstractly and flexibly are attributes of mindfulness, and directly impact decision making, problem solving, and creativity (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007; Friedlander et al, 2011; Szirony, Burgin, & Pearson, 2008; Treffinger et al, 2008), and represent neo-cortical and prefrontal cortex operations (Blair, 2006; Meltzer, 2007; Yu, Ryan, Schaie, Willis, & Kolanowski, 2009), the areas related to higher-order thinking and creative behavior (Matindale, 1999). Mindfulness is a purposeful metacognitive strategy enabling an individual to stay focused and motivated, thereby preventing extraneous factors from interfering with a completion mindset.…”