The right-ear advantage (REA) in Dichotic listening (DL) reflects stimulus-driven bottom-up asymmetry in speech processing. The REA can be modified by top-down attentional control. We investigated attentional control in DL task as a function of age. A total of 186 participants between the ages of 5 and 79 years were tested. The youngest children demonstrated a REA that was not modified by attention, suggesting that bottom-up functional asymmetry was present. The 10-11-year-olds began to show ability to voluntarily modify DL, but only young adults were fully capable of doing so. In 59-79-year-olds, this top-down attentional control was lost again.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Takio et al. (2009) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched one closely related paper. Consider it for comparative context: