Language Laterality, Sex, and Stuttering: ERPs to Contextual Meaning

Available evidence, reviewed by McGlone, gives some support to the hypothesis that females have a lower margin of hemispheric asymmetry for the processing of language than males, i.e., females have some degree of bilaterality in the hemispheric distribution of language function. Language dominance was studied in three groups: normal right-handed males, normal right-handed females, and male right-handed stutterers. The stimulus paradigm utilized the visually presented homophone “fire” in the phrases “fire is hot” and “fire the gun.” Subjects in the present experiment were prepared by affixing four silver-disc electrodes to the scalp with Grass electrolyte paste. The EEG was amplified and recorded on tape along with the stimulus pulse. The most striking difference between the males and females was the greater variability of laterality scores for the anterior lead in the female group.