Is there parallel and independent hemispheric processing of intonational and phonetic components of dichotic speech stimuli?

Abstract

The possibility of hemisphere interaction in the processing of spoken language was studied in two dichotic listening experiments. The stimulus material consisted of six CV syllable triplets each spoken with each one of six intonation contours. In Experiment I, 15 aphasic patients, 8 patients with unilateral right hemisphere lesions, and 10 normal controls were asked to identify the four components of a dichotic item from a multiple-choice (MC) set comprising all possible CV triplets and intonation contours. In Experiment II, 30 normal subjects were required to identify either the right or left ear stimulus alone from an MC set comprising the right and left ear stimulus together with the two wrong combinations of right ear CV triplet with left ear intonation and vice versa. It is concluded from the results that the left hemisphere is capable of processing both phonetic and intonational information and that there is neither the necessity nor the tendency for right hemisphere participation in the perception of spoken language.