How to choose a seat in theatres: Always sit on the right side?

Abstract

Right seat-side preference in a cinema has been explained by suggesting that it allows for emotional information processing by the right hemisphere (Karev, 2000). In order to determine seat-side preferences, participants in our experiments had to choose seats on cinema, theatre, and restaurant maps. The maps varied with respect to cinema screen, theatre stage, and restaurant entrance positions as viewed by the participants: on top, to the right, to the left, and at the bottom. Seat-side preference was found to be modified by the map's arrangement: With screen, stage, or entrance on top, participants preferred seats to the right of the screen, stage, or entrance, while for the other positions the results were not conclusive. Based on these results it cannot be concluded that the preference for a cinema seat is solely mediated by the preparation for an upcoming event to optimise emotional processing by the right hemisphere. Rather, seat choice seems to be determined by basic behavioural tendencies, such as which side to turn to when entering a room, or by visual attentional orientation.