Hemispheric specialisation of tone perception : evidence from dichotic listening tests in English and Mandarin
In this study, dichotic listening tasks were conducted in English and Mandarin speakers to evaluate: (1) the effects of processing two acoustically different languages; (2) the effects of sex; (3) the effects of voice onset time (VOT). In Experiment 1, 24 English and 24 Mandarin right-handed speaking participants were tested with an existing English syllable test and a newly developed Mandarin syllable test. In Experiment 2, 40 English and 40 Mandarin right-handed speaking participants were tested with a series of newly developed dichotic listening tests. In both experiments, dichotic listening tasks were constructed to test the impact of lexical tones on lateralised perception of English and Mandarin monosyllables. These results indicated that lexical tones were primarily processed by the left hemisphere in native speakers of tonal languages whereas the left- hemispheric specialisation was relatively weaker in speakers with no prior knowledge of lexical tones. All groups, except Mandarin speaking males were more lateralised on the English syllables. In addition, men exhibited a greater right ear advantage (REA) than women, indicating sex effects in the magnitude of REA. This sex difference was present mainly
Hsu, Fang-Chia
Hemispheric specialisation of tone perception : evidence from dichotic listening tests in English and Mandarin. In this study, dichotic listening tasks were conducted in English and Mandarin speakers to evaluate: (1) the effects of processing two acoustically different languages; (2) the effects of sex; (3) the effects of voice onset time (VOT). In Experiment 1, 24 English and 24 Mandarin right-handed speaking participants were tested with an existing English syllable test and a newly developed Mandarin syllable test. In Experiment 2, 40 English and 40 Mandarin right-handed speaking participants were tested with a series of newly developed dichotic listening tests. In both experiments, dichotic listening tasks were constructed to test the impact of lexical tones on lateralised perception of English and Mandarin monosyllables. These results indicated that lexical tones were primarily processed by the left hemisphere in native speakers of tonal languages whereas the left- hemispheric specialisation was relatively weaker in speakers with no prior knowledge of lexical tones. All groups, except Mandarin speaking males were more lateralised on the English syllables. In addition, men exhibited a greater right ear advantage (REA) than women, indicating sex effects in the magnitude of REA. This sex difference was present mainly
hemispheric specialisation tone perception evidence listening test english_mandarin study listening task conduct english_mandarin speaker evaluate effect process acoustically different_language effect sex effect voice onset time english_mandarin right speaking participant test exist english syllable test newly_develop mandarin syllable test english_mandarin right speaking participant test series newly_develop listening test listening task construct test impact lexical_tone perception english_mandarin indicated lexical_tone primarily process leave hemisphere native_speaker tonal language whereas left hemispheric specialisation relatively weak speaker prior knowledge lexical_tone group except mandarin speak male english syllable addition men exhibit great right ear advantage rea woman indicate sex effect magnitude rea sex difference present mainly