Right movies on the right seat: Laterality and seat choice

Various forms of lateral preferences are found in human behaviour. Conducting two experiments, we investigated the lateral preference for seat choice exhibited by people at the movie theatre. The right‐handed participants (N = 269) tended to choose seats to the right of the screen when they were positively motivated to see the movie. This rightward bias disappeared when they were negatively motivated. In addition, the non‐right‐handed participants (N = 105) did not show any substantial bias in their seat choice. It is well known that visual and emotional information is better processed in the right hemisphere. Considering the visual and emotional nature of movie experiences, the rightward seating bias among right‐handers appears to be determined by their motivation to effectively utilize their right‐hemisphere functions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.