Source: news.bbc.co.uk
June 24, 2009: If you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear, say scientists. In three differently designed tests, researchers found that requests spoken into to the right ear were more effective than those spoken into the left ear. “These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesized specialization of right and left hemispheres,” they said. Information from the right ear is processed by the left side of the brain, which is known to be better at processing requests.
Professor Sophie Scott, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, agreed. “Most people process speech and language on the left-hand side of the brain; and while it is not cut-and-dry, a lot of what goes in our right ear will be dealt with by the left-side of the brain. “The other side of the brain is more involved in things such as interpreting emotion, and that is why we have these kind of findings.”
[HPI note: In Hindu tradition, the importance of the right ear has been recognized from ancient times. “Dancing With Siva,” by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, explains: “Samskaras impress upon a child its holiness and innate possibilities for spiritual advancement. At a namakarana samskara, the baby’s name, astrologically chosen, is whispered in the right ear by the father.” It is also traditional to whisper a sacred mantra in the right ear of the newly deceased, for example.]