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Hemispheric differences in the recognition of environmental sounds
Julio González1, Conor T McLennan
1Dpt. Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, 12071-Castellón de Plana, Spain. gonzalez@psb.uji.es
Psychological Science
|June 12, 2009
Summary
This study found that environmental sounds are processed differently by the brain hemispheres. Specificity effects were observed in the right hemisphere, supporting distinct neural subsystems for sound recognition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- The brain has distinct neural subsystems for processing visual information, with hemispheric asymmetries observed for both abstract categories and specific exemplars.
- Similar hemispheric asymmetries have been noted for linguistic stimuli in both visual and auditory domains.
- Previous research indicated hemispheric differences in auditory priming for spoken words.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate hemispheric asymmetries in the auditory processing of nonlinguistic stimuli (environmental sounds).
- To test the dissociable-subsystems theory in the auditory domain using environmental sounds.
- To determine if long-term repetition priming reveals similar patterns as observed for visual and linguistic stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Conducted four long-term repetition-priming experiments.
- Utilized nonlinguistic auditory stimuli, specifically environmental sounds.
- Presented sounds to either the left ear (right hemisphere) or the right ear (left hemisphere).
Main Results:
- Specificity effects in auditory priming were observed when environmental sounds were presented to the left ear (right hemisphere).
- No significant specificity effects were found when sounds were presented to the right ear (left hemisphere).
- Results support the existence of dissociable neural subsystems for auditory processing.
Conclusions:
- The findings support the dissociable-subsystems theory, extending it to nonlinguistic auditory stimuli.
- Hemispheric specialization in the brain influences the recognition of environmental sounds.
- The right hemisphere appears more involved in specific-exemplar processing of environmental sounds, mirroring patterns seen in visual and linguistic domains.
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