How to get a left ‐ear advantage: A technical review of assessing brain asymmetry with dichotic listening

The dichotic‐listening paradigm with verbal stimuli is a widely employed behavioral task for the assessment of hemispheric asymmetry for speech and language processing. Participants with assumed left‐hemispheric dominance report the right‐ear stimulus with higher probability than the left‐ear stimulus. However, there is substantial between‐subject and trial‐to‐trial variability observed in the paradigm, motivating scrutiny of the task set‐up and theoretical models. Here, we give an in‐depth discussion of specific features of stimulus material and experimental parameters, as well as the conditions of stimulus/response selection, which explain a significant proportion of intra‐ and inter‐individual variability. Carefully considering these factors should be at the heart of any experimental planning when using the dichotic‐listening paradigm to achieve an optimal testing situation for measuring laterality and avoid confounds in between‐subject and between‐group comparisons.
Source: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research