We studied an effect of alcoholic olfactory stimulation on cerebral lateralization in the cognition of non-verbal sounds on 26 adults (10 males and 16 females, 20-30 years old) , using dichotic listening test. This consisted of a set of pure, warble tones and complex sounds.
The results indicated that the males have a significant right cerebral (left auditory) predominance in the lateralization for cognition of non-verbal sounds (p < 0.05) , and that the females have a tendency to right cerebral predominance but without statistical significance. However, after the alcoholic olfactory stimulation, both the males and females developed a significant left cerebral (right auditory) predominance (p < 0.05).
In the present experiment, an alcoholic olfactory stimulation presented an obvious shift from the right to left cerebral predominance for cognition of the non-verbal sound tasks in both sexes. The fact suggested a possibility that an olfactory stimulation probably affecting emotion also could influence cerebral lateralization in non-verbal sounds cognition.
