Biomaterial Database

Visual temporal asymmetries are related to asymmetries in linguistic perception. 1999

L J Elias, and M B Bulman-Fleming, and I C McManus

Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Lorin.Elias@Usask.ca

There are numerous recent reports of low-level temporal asymmetries favouring the left hemisphere, and increasing speculation that the left hemisphere's relative superiority at linguistic processing may be related to these asymmetries. The present study sought to test this claim by assessing linguistic lateralization with the Fused Dichotic Words Test and visual temporal asymmetries with a lateralized version of an inspection-time test in a sample of 40 participants balanced for sex and handedness. We found evidence for a significant right-visual-field (left-hemisphere) advantage for accuracy on the inspection-time task, F(1,36)=4.38, P = 0.043, and this asymmetry was significantly correlated with laterality scores on the linguistic dichotic-listening task, r = 0.306, P < 0.028 before disattenuation, and r = 0.486 after disattenuation. This result supports the position that low-level temporal asymmetries are related to asymmetries in linguistic processing.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D010470	Perceptual Masking	The interference of one perceptual stimulus with another causing a decrease or lessening in perceptual effectiveness.	Masking, Perceptual,Maskings, Perceptual,Perceptual Maskings
D011930	Reaction Time	The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed.	Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D002540	Cerebral Cortex	The thin layer of GRAY MATTER on the surface of the CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES that develops from the TELENCEPHALON and folds into gyri and sulci. It reaches its highest development in humans and is responsible for intellectual faculties and higher mental functions.	Allocortex,Archipallium,Cortex Cerebri,Cortical Plate,Paleocortex,Periallocortex,Allocortices,Archipalliums,Cerebral Cortices,Cortex Cerebrus,Cortex, Cerebral,Cortical Plates,Paleocortices,Periallocortices,Plate, Cortical
D004292	Dominance, Cerebral	Dominance of one cerebral hemisphere over the other in cerebral functions.	Cerebral Dominance,Hemispheric Specialization,Dominances, Cerebral,Specialization, Hemispheric
D005260	Female		Females
D005556	Form Perception	The sensory discrimination of a pattern, shape, or outline.	Contour Perception,Contour Perceptions,Form Perceptions,Perception, Contour,Perception, Form,Perceptions, Contour,Perceptions, Form
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D013067	Speech Perception	The process whereby an utterance is decoded into a representation in terms of linguistic units (sequences of phonetic segments which combine to form lexical and grammatical morphemes).	Speech Discrimination,Discrimination, Speech,Perception, Speech