Laterality in temporal processing and spatial attention

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Part 1: Investigators have recently been noting very `low-level' perceptual asymmetries. For example, normal participants exhibit reliable left hemisphere advantages for temporal processing tasks in the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities. There is increasing speculation that these temporal processing asymmetries underlie hemispheric specialization for higher functions such as language processing. The studies that are being proposed will evaluate these claims in both neurologically normal and clinical participant groups using tests of lateralized temporal processing. The tests will be grouped into two main categories. In the first category, participants will complete tasks that require the perception of rapid or rapidly changing events, such tests of two-flash fusion, gap detection, inspection time, and formant-transitions. The second main category of tests will involve the discrimination of temporal intervals, requiring explicit judgments of the length of two time intervals. In addition to providing insights into potential causes and nature of hemispheric specialisation, the research proposed could also inform clinical treatment of people with language disorders.