Dichotic Listening in Relation to Dysphoria, Sensation Seeking, and other Personality Characteristics

According to a 1983 model proposed by Levy, anxiety, dysphoria, and a critical attitude are associated with greater left- than right-hemisphere activity, while optimism and uncritical evaluations correlate with stronger right- than left-hemisphere activity. A dichotic-listening task and a set of personality questionnaires were administered to 150 students in psychology. The personality measures included Dutch versions of the Beck Depression Inventory, the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale, the Sensation-seeking Scale V and a brief MMPI. Correlations between the extent of left-hemisphere reliance as measured by a right-ear advantage score on the dichotic-listening task and the various personality measures were computed, forming a test of some aspects of Levy's (1983) model. If performance on a dichotic-listening task reflects hemispheric reliance then we found little evidence, on the whole, to support Levy's model.