HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE IN THE PROCESSING OF BACH,J.S. FUGUES - A TRANSCRANIAL DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY (TCD) STUDY WITH MUSICIANS

Although the majority of studies on musical processing in musicians ob served a left hemisphere dominance which has usually been explained by a proficient analytical strategy used by these subjects, the findings are still inconsistent. Changes in hemispheric activity induced by li stening to music (J. S. Bach fugues) and by recognizing the repetition s of the fugue theme were examined, using the technique of bilateral t ranscranial Doppler sonography (TCD) of the left and right middle cere bral artery (MCA). Subjects were 32 right-handed musicians, half of wh om were members of an orchestra or members of a choir. The fugues were presented in two versions: a-cappella and instrumental. During passiv e listening to the a-cappella version, a weak left-dominant asymmetry of blood flow acceleration was observed, while there was no hemispheri c asymmetry during listening to the instrumental version. During the t ask of fugue theme recognition, a highly significant asymmetry in favo ur of the right MCA was observed with both versions. It is concluded t hat when the processing of complex musical material has to be based on the analysis of melodic contour features and calls for working memory capacities a right hemisphere dominance is observed even in musically sophisticated subjects. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.