Music reading expertise modulates hemispheric lateralization in English word processing but not in Chinese character processing

Abstract

Recent research has shown that expertise in English and mu-sic reading both rely more on left hemisphere (LH) processing whereas Chinese character processing is more bilateral. Ac-cordingly, music-reading expertise may influence hemi-spheric lateralization in English word processing more than in Chinese processing due to stronger competition in LH proc-essing. Here we recruited musicians and non-musicians in a divided visual field study of English word and Chinese char-acter naming. In English word processing, whereas non-musicians showed a typical right visual field (RVF)/LH ad-vantage, musicians showed a left visual field (LVF)/right hemisphere (RH) advantage and responded significantly faster than non-musicians in both the LVF and the center po-sition. This effect may be due to competition for LH process-ing between music and English reading expertise, making musicians’ English word processing more right-lateralized. In contrast, in Chinese character naming, both musicians and non-musicians showed a similar bilateral pattern. This result suggests that music reading experience may have differential influences on the processing of different languages, depend-ing on their similarities in the cognitive processes involved.