Hemispheric laterality and dissociative tendencies: differences in emotional processing in a dichotic listening task

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Dissociation is a complex psychological phenomenon.
• Hemispheric processing underlies cognitive functions, including emotional and verbal information.
• The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) is a validated measure for assessing dissociative tendencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in hemispheric processing of verbal and emotional stimuli between high and low dissociators.
• To examine the relationship between dissociation levels and patterns of brain asymmetry.

Main Methods:

• A dichotic listening task was employed to assess hemispheric processing.
• Participants were categorized as high or low dissociators based on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES).
• Reaction time and response accuracy (d') were analyzed using ANOVA.

Main Results:

• A significant interaction was found between stimuli type, auditory channel, and dissociation level.
• Both high and low dissociators demonstrated a right ear advantage (REA) for verbal stimuli.
• Low dissociators showed a left ear advantage (LEA) for emotional stimuli, while high dissociators did not exhibit this pattern.

Conclusions:

• Dissociation is associated with altered hemispheric processing, particularly for emotional information.
• High dissociators display atypical patterns of brain asymmetry in response to emotional stimuli.
• Findings support the hypothesis linking dissociation to modifications in the brain's information processing.