Behavioral Laterality and Aging: The Free-Recall Dichotic-Listening Right-Ear Advantage Increases With Age.
The effect of aging on brain asymmetry was studied under consideration of possible confounding effects of known age-related decline in higher cognitive functioning. In a sample of 3,680 participants aged 20-79 years, laterality was assessed with a verbal, free-recall dichotic-listening paradigm with one stimulus pair presentation per trial, minimizing working-memory and cognitive-control demands during task performance. Laterality, reflected as right-ear preference for dichotic stimuli, was found to be increased in older age (above 60 years). This effect was due to a reduced report of left-ear stimuli, while the report of right-ear stimuli stayed on comparable levels across all ages.
a Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC), Department of Psychology , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway.
René
R
Westerhausen
Josef
J
Bless
Kristiina
K
Kompus
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D004423:Ear; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests