Opposite perceptual biases in analogous auditory and visual tasks are unique to consonant-vowel strings and are unlikely a consequence of repetition

Abstract

Despite wide reporting of a right ear (RE) advantage on dichotic listening tasks and a right visual field advantage (RVF) of visual half-field tasks, we know very little about the relationship between these perceptual biases. Previous studies that have investigated perceptual asymmetries for analogous auditory and visual consonant-vowel tasks have indicated a serendipitous finding: a RE advantage and a left visual field (LVF) advantage with poor cross-modal correlations. In this study we examined the possibility that this LVF for visual processing of consonant-vowel strings may be a consequence of repetition by examining perceptual biases in analogous auditory and visual tasks for both consonant-vowel strings and words. We replicated opposite perceptual biases for consonant-vowel strings (RE and LVF advantages). This did not extend to word stimuli where we found RE and RVF advantages. Furthermore, these perceptual biases did not differ across three experimental blocks. Thus, we can firmly conclude that this LVF is unique to consonant-vowel strings and is not a consequence of the repetition of a relatively limited number of stimuli. Finally, a test of covariances indicated cross-modal relationships between laterality indices suggesting that perceptual biases are dissociable within individuals and cluster on mode of presentation (auditory vs. visual).