title: Lateral specialization and social-verbal development in preschool children.
abstract: Forty-two 2 1/2- to 5 1/2-year-old children's social and verbal behaviors were observed during free play in a preschool. A test measuring lateral specialization of verbal function and a standardized psychometric test of verbal ability were also administered. Analysis of variance indicated that the right ear (left hemisphere) is predominant in processing verbal stimuli in children as young as 2 1/2. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant relations between the right ear accuracy score for dichotically presented verbal stimuli and both psychometrically measured verbal ability and a social-verbal factor score derived from play behavior. After the increase related to age was statistically partialled out from both verbal ability and social-verbal scores, verbal expression, length of verbal utterances, time spent in conversation, and peer social interactions increased and parallel play decreased as a function of right ear (left hemisphere) accuracy for verbal stimuli. The relationship between left ear (right hemisphere) accuracy scores for verbal stimuli and social-verbal behavior, however, was not linear. Very high and very low levels of left ear recall predicted an increase in the frequency of parallel play and low social-verbal behavior while moderate levels of left ear accuracy scores predicted the reverse.
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012919:Social Behavior; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*