Handedness and ‘open-earedness’: Strong right-handers are less likely to prefer less popular musical genres

Abstract

Research shows that strong right-handedness is associated with decreased cognitive flexibility and decreased tendencies to update beliefs, arising from decreased interhemispheric interaction. In the current study, strong right-handedness was associated with decreased overall liking of less popular musical genres (with the specific genres of bluegrass and reggae attaining significance) and marginally increased preference for more popular genres (with popularity being indexed by recording industry sales figures), providing further evidence for decreased cognitive flexibility in strong right-handers and suggesting that strength of handedness is an important factor in individual differences in musical preferences.