The effect of concurrent activity on hemispheric asymmetries.

Two experiments were performed to test Kinsbourne's (1970) contention that perceptual laterality effects are affected by the nature of concurrent activity. In the first, subjects listened to verbal or nonverbal dichotic material while holding verbal or spatial material in memory. In the second, subjects localized dots while remembering a list of abstract words. In neither experiment did the concurrent activity alter the laterality effect in the manner suggested by Kinsbourne's model. This model therefore cannot provide a general explanation for perceptual laterality effects.