Studies comparing the separate functions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres have relied mainly on male research participants; no consistent pattern of abnormalities in alcoholics has emerged (for a review, see Oscar-Berman 1992). In a study that included both male and female alcoholics and nonalcoholic control participants, however, Drake and colleagues (1990) measured gender differences in hemispheric asymmetries using words and music presented simultaneously in each ear (i.e., dichotic listening). The investigators found that compared with control subjects, male alcoholics were better able to identify words coming into the right ear (a left-hemisphere function) and not as able to identify melodies coming into the left ear (a right-hemisphere function). In contrast, female alcoholics’ laterality patterns did not differ from those of control subjects on either of the dichotic listening tasks. The authors interpreted their results to mean that male alcoholics showed evidence of right hemisphere dysfunction. Results of numerous other perceptual laterality studies using visual, tactual, and auditory signals have been inconsistent in showing abnormal asymmetries in alcoholics; these studies, however, have not addressed gender differences (Oscar-Berman 1992). Continuing
