ATTENTIONAL EFFECTS IN DICHOTIC-LISTENING

This study addresses attentional effects in dichotic listening (DL) to consonant-vowel syllables. Previous research has shown that ear advan tages in DL are modulated by biased attention to either the left or th e right ear. Attentional effects in DL can be the result of two proces ses: facilitation of reports from the attended ear, or suppression of intrusions from the nonattended ear. Sixty-two students were tested wi th DL under three different task instructions: nonforced (divided) att ention, attention forced to the right ear, and attention forced to the left ear. The main finding was inhibition of intrusions from the nona ttended ear, combined with the facilitation of the correct reports fro m the attended ear during the two forced-attention conditions, compare d with the nonforced condition. The results are discussed in relation to right hemisphere processing of dichotic input, and that attention m ay activate subcortically biased asymmetries which suppress input from the nonattended channel. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.