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Objectives It is well established that the brainstem regulates the act of swallow. However, the role of cortex and its influence on swallowing are still a question. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate if cerebral hemispheric laterality controls swallow activity. Methods Thirty normal right handed participants were subjected to time test of swallow using 100 ml of water. Dual paradigm was used to investigate hemispheric laterality for swallowing which involved listening to the speech or music stimuli presented binaurally while swallowing. The clinician measured total time taken and hyolaryngeal movement simultaneously which was used to calculate volume/time, volume/swallow, and time/swallow on an offline basis. Results Results revealed that swallow performance decreased with the dual task paradigm compared to baseline swallow. These results are suggestive of cortex playing a role during swallowing in the dual task paradigm. Moreover, quantitative parameters like volume/swallow and volume/time were affected more when speech was competing with swallowing. However, music exerted greater interference over the speech for time/swallow. Conclusions These results suggests that there exists differential cue lateralization hypothesis which means volume related parameters are controlled by left hemisphere and time related swallowing parameters are controlled at the right hemisphere.

Research evidence has mounted that cognitive distracters can be detrimental to concurrent motor performance. Yet, few investigations have probed how cognitive distracters might impact dysphagia (swallowing impairment) though secondary tasks, like watching television, now compete with swallowing in a 21st-century lifestyle. Accordingly, we sought to determine whether cognitive distracters while swallowing alter swallowing or cognitive performance among healthy young adults. Participants were 30 healthy volunteers 18-24 years of age who underwent a baseline swallow task (BST), a baseline cognitive task (BCT), and a dual task (DT) in randomized order. The BST consisted of consuming 100 mL of (a) luke warm water (LWW) and (b) carbonated sweet water (CSW). The BCT involved pressing a key to indicate speed or reaction time for completing a number recognition task. In the DT condition, swallow and cognitive tasks were performed concurrently. Volume/swallow (V/S), time/swallow (T/S), and swallow capacity (SC) indices were derived for the swallow task and reaction time in milliseconds reflected cognitive task performance. On comparison between baseline and the DT condition, there was a decrease in V/S, increase in T/S, and an overall reduction in SC across LWW and CSW. Moreover, there was a slower cognitive reaction time in the DT condition. A significant repeated measures of ANOVA difference was noted between baseline and DT conditions ( p < .001). We conclude that swallowing should not be done in the presence of cognitively distracters.

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