Story Recall under Monaural and Binaural Conditions: Patients with Anterior Temporal Lesions

Recall of a short story is ordinarily the same whether it is heard in the left, right, or both ears. It has been reported that many patients with severe cerebral dysfunctions (including brain damage, major psychiatric disorders, and learning disabilities in children) perform much better with one ear than the other (monaural asymmetry) and that binaural performance is worse than with the better ear alone (binaural interference). Blocking the poorer ear with an earplug is said to significantly improve speech comprehension in daily life. Because of the theoretical and practical significance of these reports, we have attempted a replication. We studied patients with anterior temporal lobectomy because it was proposed that the underlying mechanism of monaural asymmetry and binaural interference in all clinical categories may involve temporal lesions or abnormal inhibition of one temporal lobe by the other. We were unable to confirm the previous reports.