D. left; right
Based on results of dichotic listening tasks, researchers have concluded that musical information from the left ear seems to have preferential access to the right hemisphere, which processes music.
In dichotic listening tasks, different auditory stimuli are presented to each ear simultaneously. Participants are asked to focus on information from either their left or right ear.
Research shows participants have better recall for music presented to the left ear compared to the right. This suggests the left ear, which routes information to the right brain hemisphere, has preferential access for processing musical stimuli.
The right hemisphere of the brain is known to be more specialized for tasks like processing music, due to asymmetries in cortical organization across the two hemispheres.
Therefore, musical information from the left ear has privileged access to the right hemisphere, which processes music. The correct options are "left" ear and "right" hemisphere - choice D.