Dichotic lateralization, cognitive ability, and age at puberty

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that early‐maturing individuals would show a smaller dichotic right‐ear advantage (REA), indicative of a lesser degree of left‐hemispheric language lateralization, than late‐maturing individuals. Undergraduate students were questioned about their pubertal development, and classified as early or later maturers according to their age at menarche (women) or estimated peak height velocity (men). Participants were then given a standard verbal dichotic‐listening test, and psychometric tests of verbal and spatial ability. No relation was found between pubertal age and dichotic listening performance, nor did spatial ability relate significantly to pubertal age. Among males, later maturers were superior to early maturers in reasoning ability, and reasoning ability correlated with dichotic lateralization. Thus, although the hypothesis that the REA is related to pubertal age is not substantiated, there are complex interactions between cognitive ability, cerebral lateralization, and maturation rate.