Dynamic gender-related differences in dichotic listening performance

This experiment investigated dynamic gender-related differences in perceptual asymmetry (PA) in a dichotic task. Twenty right-handed males and 20 right-handed females performed a 200 trial directed attention dichotic listening task using consonant-vowel-consonant nonsense syllables. Men showed a greater right-ear advantage (REA) at the beginning of the test than did women. Over the course of the test the REA in men declined significantly (P < 0.001) whilst in females the REA showed a significant increase (P < 0.001). Thus by the end of the test the REA was greater in females than males. However, the reduced REA in males was entirely due to improved left-ear (LE) performance and the increased REA in females was due to improved right-ear (RE) performance. The change in PA in women is consistent with a dynamic improvement in left hemisphere (LH) syllable processing and in men a dynamic improvement in the transmission of information through the right hemisphere (RH) to the language processing areas in the LH.