J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1989; 1:46-52
Copyright © 1989 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Regional cerebral blood flow correlates of a dichotic listening task
CE Coffey, MP Bryden, ES Schroering, WH Wilson and RJ Mathew
Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
This investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that ear advantage
on a dichotic listening (DL) task of pitch discrimination reflects
asymmetries in the metabolic activities of the temporal lobes. Fourteen
normal subjects, with either a left-ear advantage (LEA) (n = 9) or a
right-ear advantage (REA) (n = 5) on the DL task, underwent measurements of
regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during a resting baseline condition and
during performance on the DL task. For both groups, the DL task was
associated with selective and significant increases in rCBF to the
contralateral posterior temporal lobe. Our finding of selective rCBF
activation with dichotic stimulation may have potential implications for an
understanding of the functional organization of the cerebral hemispheres.
