ABSTRACT
F rom the age o f 10, there is a marked shift in the ability to cognitively modulate the ear advantage, either by increasing the R E A in the F R attention condition, or by shifting it to an L E A in the F L attention condition. Thus, it seems obvious that from the age o f 10 years, the laterality effect is driven not only by the nature o f the stimulus but also by the nature o f the cognitive instructions given to the participants. W e may call this "instruction-driven laterality" or top-down modulation o f a structural bottom-up processing effect. The inability to modify an ear-advantage effect with attention in children below the age o f 10 should, however, not be overstated. Hiscock and Kinsbourne (1977) found that even preschool children could attend to the left-ear stimulus under certain circumstances. Thus, the ability for young children to effectively attend to and modify the left-ear stimulus may also be dependent on the type o f task instruction and type o f stimulus, in addition to strategy-response requirements.
