AGE-DIFFERENCES IN INTENTION TO LEFT AND RIGHT HEMISPACE USING A DICHOTIC-LISTENING PARADIGM

This study assessed the influence of age (younger women and elderly wo men living in communities) on cerebral laterality using dichotic liste ning. Previous research has purported to show a relative right cerebra l decline with age. To date, however, research on the right hemiaging hypothesis has provided mixed findings. It is possible that these mixe d findings are caused by use of simple versus complex dichotic listeni ng tasks. As a test of this hypothesis, older women were expected to h ave a heightened right ear advantage (REA) for phonemic speech sounds and greater difficulty switching intention to the left ear when instru cted to focus to either the left or the right ear. No age difference w as found using the traditional presentation of concurrent phonemes. Ho wever, the right hemiaging hypothesis was supported on the intentional task, in which older women were less able to switch intention to the left but not to the right ear. Implications for right hemiaging are di scussed.