BEHAVIORAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL INDEXES OF VOICING-CUE DISCRIMINATION - LATERALITY PATTERNS AND DEVELOPMENT

Voicing is an important phonetic dimension that distinguishes voiced ( i.e., /b/) from voiceless-aspirated stop consonants (i.e., /p(h)/) in English. Perception of discrete voicing categories is affected by a nu mber of acoustic cues. The present paper reviews evidence from brain-d amaged populations indicating that the perception of certain voicing c ues is less dependent upon left hemisphere mechanisms than the ability to perceive place of articulation contrasts (e.g., /b/ vs. /d/). In a ddition, electrophysiological and dichotic listening studies with neur ologically normal individuals support the view that the right hemisphe re may play a special role in the categorical processing of voicing. T hese findings are discussed in relation to current models of hemispher ic specialization and laterality for language. (C) 1997 Academic Press .