Auditory perception of temporal and spectral events in patients with focal left and right cerebral lesions

The auditory perception of temporal and spectral information was studied in subjects with lesions in the temporoparietal region of the left (LH group), or right (RH group) hemisphere (n = 5 in each group) and in five normal controls. The temporal tasks included gap detection and two complex pattern perception tasks in which subjects had to identify the placement of the two closest tones (separated by the shortest interval) within a sequence of six tones. The spectral tasks involved pitch matching and frequency discrimination. The results showed a "double dissociation": (1) the LH group was impaired in their ability to perceive temporal information, but the perception of spectral information was normal, and (2) the RH group was impaired in their ability to perceive spectral information, but the perception of temporal information was normal. The findings are consistent with the notion that temporal processing is a function of left-hemisphere structures and that spectral processing is a function of right-hemisphere structures.