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Abstract:
Abstract: Although the left hemisphere is specialized for
language, the right hemisphere is not without linguistic
capabilities. Grimshaw & Kwasny (1999) used a dichotic
listening task with a response-hand manipulation to examine right
hemisphere contributions to linguistic processing. The stimuli were
dichotically-paired words, spoken in emotional tones of voice, and
subjects were required to listen for a target word. As expected, a
right ear advantage (REA) was observed for linguistic processing,
however, it interacted with response hand, indicating that the
right hemisphere was involved in processing the left ear stimulus
(direct access model). The present study tested two hypotheses
concerning the reasons for the unexpected competence of the right
hemisphere on this task. Experiment 1 replicated Grimshaw &
Kwasny, but used only words spoken in a neutral tone of voice. If
right hemisphere competence arose because of the lexical nature of
the stimuli, then a direct access pattern of processing should be
observed. Experiment 2 replicated Grimshaw & Kwasny, but used
four nonsense words spoken in emotional tones of voice. If right
hemisphere competence arose because the presence of affective
prosody activates the right hemisphere, then a direct access
pattern of processing should be observed. As expected, an REA was
observed in both experiments. An analysis of response-hand effects
indicate that both lexical and prosodic factors affect right
hemisphere linguistic competence. Findings are discussed in terms
of a dynamic model of hemispheric specialization.
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