Monaural Reaction Time Asymmetries for Speech and Non-Speech Sounds

Abstract

When Ss are uncertain as to site of stimulation, they show a right ear superiority for both complex (speech) and simple (pure tone) sounds. This is true in the absence of stimulus competition and in the absence of any imposed requirement for linguistic encoding. When language encoding is required the ear preference remains the same but the efficiency of stimulus processing (speed of response) is reduced. It is concluded that there is a right ear and presumably left hemisphere advantage in auditory signal detection that is best conceptualized as due to attentional processes rather than to language dominance.