Speech lateralization in families: A preliminary study using dichotic listening

In a familial study both parents and children in 49 families were given dichotic listening tests. In one test, Ss heard a single pair of consonant-vowel syllables, in the other they heard lists of numbers. Familial correlations were then computed on the laterality scores obtained from these tests. Although parent-child correlations existed, between-sibling correlations were negative. Such a pattern of results suggests that dichotic listening laterality, and possibly speech lateralization, are more influenced by environmental than by genetic factors.

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