Dichotic listening indices of right hemisphere semantic processing.
A new dichotic listening technique, based on a psychophysical threshold procedure and providing ordinal scale measurement of lateral asymmetry, was used to investigate variation in the size of right-ear advantage for verbal vs manual response modalities across three semantic categories of stimuli in 60 right-handed males. For manual responders, abstract words elicited a significantly greater right-ear advantage than did concrete words, while emotional words elicited a non-significant left-ear advantage. Verbal responders showed no significant difference in the size of right-ear advantage across stimuli. The results suggest that both response modality and stimulus type are important variables for dichotic listening paradigms seeking evidence of right hemisphere contributions to semantic processing.
Ely
P W
PW
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, BC, Canada.
Graves
R E
RE
Potter
S M
SM
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D004644:Emotions; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception