Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero
Left-hemispheric language dominance is a well-known characteristic of the human language system. However, it has been shown that leftward language lateralization decreases dramatically when people communicate using whistles. Whistled languages present a transformation of a spoken language into whist...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Symmetry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/7/1183 |
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| author | Pamela Villar González Onur Güntürkün Sebastian Ocklenburg |
| author_facet | Pamela Villar González Onur Güntürkün Sebastian Ocklenburg |
| author_sort | Pamela Villar González |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Left-hemispheric language dominance is a well-known characteristic of the human language system. However, it has been shown that leftward language lateralization decreases dramatically when people communicate using whistles. Whistled languages present a transformation of a spoken language into whistles, facilitating communication over great distances. In order to investigate the laterality of Silbo Gomero, a form of whistled Spanish, we used a vocal and a whistled dichotic listening task in a sample of 75 healthy Spanish speakers. Both individuals that were able to whistle and to understand Silbo Gomero and a non-whistling control group showed a clear right-ear advantage for vocal dichotic listening. For whistled dichotic listening, the control group did not show any hemispheric asymmetries. In contrast, the whistlers’ group showed a right-ear advantage for whistled stimuli. This right-ear advantage was, however, smaller compared to the right-ear advantage found for vocal dichotic listening. In line with a previous study on language lateralization of whistled Turkish, these findings suggest that whistled language processing is associated with a decrease in left and a relative increase in right hemispheric processing. This shows that bihemispheric processing of whistled language stimuli occurs independent of language. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:25:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-42154be65b084335a2c000ff500b0903 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-8994 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:25:39Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Symmetry |
| spelling | doaj.art-42154be65b084335a2c000ff500b09032023-11-20T07:02:01ZengMDPI AGSymmetry2073-89942020-07-01127118310.3390/sym12071183Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo GomeroPamela Villar González0Onur Güntürkün1Sebastian Ocklenburg2Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyLeft-hemispheric language dominance is a well-known characteristic of the human language system. However, it has been shown that leftward language lateralization decreases dramatically when people communicate using whistles. Whistled languages present a transformation of a spoken language into whistles, facilitating communication over great distances. In order to investigate the laterality of Silbo Gomero, a form of whistled Spanish, we used a vocal and a whistled dichotic listening task in a sample of 75 healthy Spanish speakers. Both individuals that were able to whistle and to understand Silbo Gomero and a non-whistling control group showed a clear right-ear advantage for vocal dichotic listening. For whistled dichotic listening, the control group did not show any hemispheric asymmetries. In contrast, the whistlers’ group showed a right-ear advantage for whistled stimuli. This right-ear advantage was, however, smaller compared to the right-ear advantage found for vocal dichotic listening. In line with a previous study on language lateralization of whistled Turkish, these findings suggest that whistled language processing is associated with a decrease in left and a relative increase in right hemispheric processing. This shows that bihemispheric processing of whistled language stimuli occurs independent of language.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/7/1183Silbo Gomerowhistle languagecerebral lateralizationbrain asymmetrydichotic listening task |
| spellingShingle | Pamela Villar González Onur Güntürkün Sebastian Ocklenburg Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero Symmetry Silbo Gomero whistle language cerebral lateralization brain asymmetry dichotic listening task |
| title | Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero |
| title_full | Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero |
| title_fullStr | Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero |
| title_short | Lateralization of Auditory Processing of Silbo Gomero |
| title_sort | lateralization of auditory processing of silbo gomero |
| topic | Silbo Gomero whistle language cerebral lateralization brain asymmetry dichotic listening task |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/7/1183 |
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