Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Reported Brain-Dominance Preferences and Musical Task Performance Among High School Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT The popular concept of “left-brain vs. right-brain dominance” remains influential in education and popular psychology despite neuroscientific evidence suggesting that most cognitive processes involve cooperation between both cerebral hemispheres. This study investigated whether self-reported brain-dominance preferences are associated with differences in musical task performance among Grade 11–12 students. A mixed-methods correlational design was used with a convenience sample of 20 students aged 15–17 years. Participants completed a brain-dominance preference questionnaire and two musical tasks: a rhythm reproduction task and a melody creativity task. Quantitative measures included rhythm completion time, rhythm error count, melody creativity scores, confidence prediction accuracy, and task-order effects. Qualitative observations were used to contextualize participant self-identification and behavioral patterns. Results suggested modest differences between groups. Students categorized as left-dominant generally completed rhythm tasks more quickly and with fewer errors, while right-dominant participants tended to score higher on melody creativity and emotional expression. Balanced participants demonstrated relatively stable performance across both task categories. However, most performance variation could not be fully explained by self-reported dominance classifications alone. Findings support current neuroscientific perspectives suggesting that musical cognition relies on distributed neural cooperation rather than strict hemispheric specialization. This study contributes to ongoing discussions surrounding neuromyths in education and highlights the importance of critically evaluating simplified models of cognitive functioning. Keywords: brain lateralization, musical cognition, hemispheric specialization, neuromyths, rhythm processing, creativity