Lateralization of rapid auditory sequences

Subjects were trained to manually respond to the presence of a preassigned target order of a two-element sequence in a dichotic presentation. Reaction times to rapid target sequences presented to the right ear were significantly shorter than left ear reaction times. The speech or nonspeech character of the stimulus was not a significant factor. There were no lateral differences in accuracy of response. The lateral differences in reaction time are interpreted as a greater efficiency of processing by the right ear (and by implication, the left hemisphere) when temporal characteristics of the sequences were similar to temporal values found in speech.