A developmental study of hemisphere specialization for alphabetical stimuli.
Three groups of normal female subjects (7 and 8 years of age, 13 and 14 years of age, and young adults) were tested on a choice reaction time task using a tachistoscopic presentation of single letters to either hemisphere. The two older groups of subjects were found to exhibit a significant right visual field (left hemisphere) superiority in reaction time to letters, but the 7 and 8 year old children did not show a hemisphere asymmetry. These reaction time results for the two older groups are consistent with Rizzolatti et al.'s (1971) finding of a right visual field superiority in reaction time to letters in male adults. The analyses of error rates for visual field differences were not significant for the children or the adolescents. In this study, in contrast to Rizzolatti et al.'s result with male adults, the female adults produced a significant visual field difference in error rate.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D014794:Visual Fields