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Attentional effects in dichotic listening
1University of Bergen, Norway.
Brain and Language
|June 1, 1995
Summary
This study on dichotic listening (DL) found that focusing attention on one ear inhibits irrelevant sounds from the other ear and improves accuracy for attended sounds. This attentional effect was more pronounced when attention was directed.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Auditory Perception
- Human Psychology
Background:
- Dichotic listening (DL) studies reveal ear advantages influenced by attention.
- Attentional effects in DL may involve report facilitation or intrusion suppression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate attentional effects in dichotic listening (DL) to consonant-vowel syllables.
- To differentiate between facilitation and suppression as mechanisms of attentional modulation in DL.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-two students participated in a dichotic listening task.
- Participants were tested under three conditions: nonforced (divided) attention, attention forced to the right ear, and attention forced to the left ear.
Main Results:
- Forced attention conditions showed inhibition of intrusions from the nonattended ear.
- Facilitation of correct reports from the attended ear was observed in forced attention conditions.
- These effects were compared to the nonforced (divided) attention condition.
Conclusions:
- Attention plays a dual role in DL: facilitating attended input and suppressing nonattended input.
- Results suggest attention may activate subcortical asymmetries to suppress nonattended auditory channels.
- Findings relate to right hemisphere processing in dichotic auditory perception.