Abstract
Dichotic pairs of musical sounds were presented to 16 right-handed subjects, who were instructed to depress a reaction-time (RT) button when a target sound occurred in either ear. Four blocks of 36 trials were presented. During the first block, RTs to left-ear targets were significantly faster than those to right-ear targets. There were no significant ear differences during the second, third, or fourth blocks. Possible explanations for the limited duration of the left-ear advantage, and its implications for models proposed to explain the basis of RT asymmetries, are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bever, T. G., &Chiarello, R. J. Cerebral dominance in musietans and nonmusicians.Science, 1974,185, 537–539.
Broadbent, D. E., &Gregory, M. Accuracy of recognition for speech presented to the right and left ears.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1964,16, 359–360.
Bryden, M. P. An evaluation on some models of laterality effeets in dichotic listening.Oto-Laryngologia, 1967,63, 595–604.
Chaney, R. B., &Webster, J. C. Information in certain multidimensional sounds.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1966,50, 449–455.
Curray, F. A comparison of left-handed and right-handed subjects on verbal and non-verbal dichotic listening tasks.Cortex. 1967,3, 343–352.
Dfe, H. L. Auditory asymmetry and strength of manual preference,Cortex, 1971,7, 236–256.
Dimond, S. J., &Beaumont, J. G. On the nature of the interhemispheric effects of fatigue.Acta Psychologica, 1872,36, 443–449.
Gordon, H. W. Hemispheric asymmetries in the perception of musical chords,Cortex, 1970,6, 387–398.
Kimura, D. Cerebral dommance and the perception of verbal stimuli.Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1961,15, 166–171.
Kimura, D. Left-right differences in the perception of melodies.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 1964.16, 355–358.
Kimura, D. Functional asymmetry of the brain in dichotic listeming,Cortex, 1967,3, 163–178.
Kinsbourne, M. The cerebral basis of lateral asymmetries in attention.Acta Psychologica, 1970,33, 193–201.
Kinsbourne, M. The control of attention by interaction between the cerebral hemispheres. In S. Kornblum (Ed.),Attention and pertormance. IV New York Academic Press. 1973
Milner, B., Taylor, L., &Sperry, R. W. Lateralized suppiession of dichotically presented digits after commissural seetion in man.Science, 1968,161, 184–186.
Oxbury, S., Oxbury, J., &Gardiner, J. Laterality effects in dichotic listeningNature, 1967,214, 742–743.
Satz, P., Achenbach, K., Pattishall, E., &Fennell, E. Order of report, ear asymmetry and handedness in dichotic listening.Cortex, 1965,1. 377–396
Spellacy, F. Lateral preterences in the identification of patterned stimuh.Journal of the Acoustical Soicety of America, 1970,47, 574–578.
Springer, S. P. Ear asymmetry in a dichotic detection task.Perception & Psychophysics, 1871,10. 239–241.
Springer, S. P. Hemispheric specialization for speech opposed by contralateral noise.Perception & Psychophysics, 1973,13, 391–393.
Treisman, A., &Geffen, G. Selective attention and cerebral dommance in perceiving and responding to speech messages.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 1968,20, 139–150.
Winer, B. J.Statistical principles in experimental design (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant from the National Research Council of Canada to Michael C. Corballis.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kallman, H.J., Corballis, M.C. Ear asymmetry in reaction time to musical sounds. Perception & Psychophysics 17, 368–370 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199348
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199348