title: Reliability of laterality effects in a dichotic listening task with nonverbal material.
abstract: The present study examined the reliability of a dichotic listening task using nonverbal stimuli. Twenty undergraduate students (all right-handed native English speakers) had to report whether they had heard a target emotion. The task used English words (bower, dower, power, tower) pronounced with an angry, happy, neutral, or sad emotional tone. Results showed a relatively high level of test-retest reliability for the laterality effect. In addition, a significant gender by ear of presentation interaction was obtained. The interaction reflected the fact that a strong left ear advantage was found in females but not in males. The findings indicate that the task used here should be considered a reliable means to assess the lateralization of emotions. Issues concerning the relation between gender and laterality are addressed in the discussion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick Fredericton, Canada. voyer@unb.ca
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Voyer
authors.forename: Marguerite A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rodgers
mesh_terms: D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires