Attention and the right-ear advantage: What is the connection?

► Dichotic listening was a prominent method for studying attention in the 1950s. ► In 1961 Kimura showed that the method also indicates lateralization of language. ► Many findings dispute listening asymmetry as a fixed property of brain structure. ► Attention again becomes necessary for explaining d...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and cognition 2011-07, Vol.76 (2), p.263-275
Main Authors: Hiscock, Merrill, Kinsbourne, Marcel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
Attention
Attention - physiology
Attention Control
Auditory
Auditory Perception
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain Hemisphere Functions
Dichotic listening
Dichotic Listening Tests
Evidence
Functional Laterality - physiology
Human Body
Humans
Language Processing
Lateral Dominance
Laterality
Listening Skills
Role
Verbal Communication
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:► Dichotic listening was a prominent method for studying attention in the 1950s. ► In 1961 Kimura showed that the method also indicates lateralization of language. ► Many findings dispute listening asymmetry as a fixed property of brain structure. ► Attention again becomes necessary for explaining dichotic listening results. ► We discuss the role of attention in contemporary models of dichotic listening. Dichotic listening originally was a means of studying attention. Half a century ago Doreen Kimura parlayed the dichotic method into a noninvasive indicator of lateralized cerebral language representation. The ubiquitous right-ear advantage (REA) for verbal material was accepted as a concomitant of left-sided language lateralization and preferential conduction of right-ear messages to the left hemisphere. As evidence has accumulated over the past 50 years showing the REA to be dynamic and modifiable, the concept of attention has become essential for interpreting the findings. Progress in understanding the role of attention has been manifested as a transition from efforts to document attention effects to efforts to characterize their mechanisms. We summarize the relevant evidence, trace the evolution of explanatory models, and outline contemporary accounts of the role of attention in dichotic listening.
ISSN:0278-2626
1090-2147
DOI:10.1016/j.bandc.2011.03.016