Unlike other aspects of music, perfect pitch (the ability to identify any musical note without comparing it to a reference note) involves more of the left hemisphere than the right.

In a 1995 study, MRI measurements of the planum temporale were done in right-handed musicians with perfect pitch, musicians without perfect pitch, and nonmusicians. The size of the left planum temporale was twice the size in musicians with perfect pitch than in non musicians, whereas those without perfect pitch had an intermediate size.

Specialization of Perfect Pitch

The auditory areas of the right hemisphere are important in the perception of music. Music overall activates the right hemisphere more than the left and damage to the right hemisphere impairs musical perception.

University of Rochester

A region of the superior temporal cortex adjacent to the primary auditory area. (shown in yellow)

Studies have found that this area is larger in the left hemisphere than the right (In 11% of the brains studied was the right side larger). Although there is not concrete evidence of this relationship, the larger left planum temporale is likely to be related to the left hemisphere's specialization for language.

Planum Temporale

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

The left planum temporale is found to be larger than the right in the brains of infants, adults, and some non-human primates (chimps and gorillas). In infants, this asymmetry can be seen in a variety of genes as early as 12-14 weeks of gestation. Additionally, Broca's area (a zone responsible for speech) is larger on the left than on the right for these groups. For monkeys, the left hemisphere is activated more when hearing monkey vocalizations, similar to humans with speech.

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