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Abstract:
Sixty-two participants listened to emotion (e.g., depressed)
and non- emotion (e.g., combine) words that were dichotically
presented. Emotion and non-emotion words were presented to the
left- or right- ear, and participants were instructed to recall the
list. There were eight trials, and each trial consisted of six sets
of dichotic signals with a 1-sec gap between sets. The results
showed a left-ear advantage for emotion words. The was a
significant left-ear advantage F(1,60) = 21.65, p < .0005. When
emotion stimuli appeared on the left ear, the accuracy of recall
was higher, with a mean of 64.43%, and 58.15% for the right-ear.
Our study shows that in the face of competing verbal information,
emotional words compete more strongly when they are presented
through the left ear. Research has shown that ear-advantage is a
function of the nature of the stimuli presented and the nature of
the task required of the listener. The literature reports a left-
ear advantage prevails for stimuli, such as musical chords and
melodies, that are processed in the right- hemisphere. It also
shows a left-ear advantage for melody recognition task and
right-ear superiority for letter recognition task. In the present
study, the nature of the stimuli was homogeneously verbal. The
difference between the left and right ears was the presence of
emotional content. The findings are consistent with the role of the
right-hemisphere in the processing of emotional stimuli.
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