Cross-linguistic and cross-scriptal differences in auditory and visual attentional shifts : comparison between native Cantonese and English speakers

Abstract

Lallier and colleagues (2010b) put forward a new hypothesis proposing the role of temporal interval between salient units in ones native language in shaping the speed of attentional shift. The present study investigated the applicability of this hypothesis to Cantonese speakers and English speakers by comparing their speed of attentional shift in auditory and visual stream segregation tasks. Contrary to Lallier et al.’s hypothesis, results of stepwise regressions revealed no group difference in the segregation thresholds in both modalities after controlling the participants’ mean reaction time and alerting score in the Flanker task, suggesting that the speed of attentional shift is language-independent. Additionally, this study established the normative data of attentional shift in the typical Cantonese-speaking adults. This information can serve as a basis for evaluating the relevance of “sluggish attentional shift” (SAS) to developmental dyslexia in Chinese with a logographic script, which may provide clinical insights to its diagnosis.