The lengthy persistence of priming effects in dichotic listening.

ABSTRACT

A dichotic digits task, with selective listening instructions, was administered to 72 normal, right-handed children. The interval between monitoring one ear and monitoring the other ear was either 5 min or 1 week. Ear asymmetry depended on the order in which the ears were monitored only children who listened first to the right ear showed a right-ear advantage. This order, or priming, effect was equally strong irrespective of the interval over which attention was switched. The results show that attentional biases may exert a strong and enduring influence on ear asymmetry.