MONAURAL LATERALITY

            On the working model described by my cognitive modelling work it is monaural presentation, and not dichotic, that affords the best hope of throwing light on post-categorical processes. For, although a load of a memory/linguistic nature can be incorporated into a dichotic listening task, it is inescapable that dichotic stimuli competing for the limited-capacity phonetic categoriser will strain the perceptual system. Whereas monaural tasks can place primary strain on more mnestic or lexical or post-lexical processing. I have tried hard to find “monaural ear differences”, and did discover one reported in Cortex 17, but it proved difficult to work with (Psychology 22).

            All that monaural research used accuracy (errors) as the dependent measure; but there is also a substantial literature measuring latency of response. My only experience with the latency measure was Acta Psychologica 75 and that, because of the expertise of my collaborators in that research, used  visual not auditory presentation. The complete literature on monaural ear differences has developed into a substantial one, though with enthusiasm fitful (International Journal of Clinical Neuropsychology 10).