Effect of handedness on the middle latency auditory evoked potential.

Overview

The effect of handedness on the middle latency response of the auditory evoked potential was investigated by testing 16 right-handed and 16 left-handed young adults with normal hearing. Each handedness group contained eight males and eight females. Peaks PO, N(a),P(a),Nb,and Pb showed a progressive, statistically significant latency increase in left-handed subjects when compared with right-handed subjects. The latency difference was 1.1 ms at peak P(a) and 3.6 ms at peak Pb. There was no significant latency difference between males and females. Topographic brain mapping showed that the distribution of positivity of wave Pb was similar to the distribution for wave P(a) in both right- and left-handed subjects.