Abstract
One purpose of the present study was to see whether there is any relation between dichotic listening performance and verbal abilities. A verbal dichotic listening task and 5 subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) were completed by 108 right-handed preschool children. Multiple regression analyses revealed 2 significant relations between the right ear advantage (REA) and verbal abilities in the youngest group of children: (1) a positive relation between the right ear advantage and the Verbal Expression subtest, and (2) a negative relation between the right ear advantage and the Grammatic Closure subtest. These results imply that (1) children who have high scores on the Verbal Expression subtest tend to be strongly lateralized for verbal function, and (2) children who have high scores on the Grammatic Closure subtest seem to be less strongly lateralized for verbal function. The other purpose of the present study was to investigate developmental changes in the degree of right ear advantage. However, no age-related changes in the magnitude of the right ear advantage were found in these preschool children.
