Functional cerebral asymmetry and performance. I. Reaction time to words and dot patterns as a function of EEG alpha asymmetry.
Alpha activity in left and right hemispheres was recorded while subjects performed in verbal and nonverbal target detection/reaction time tasks. Alpha in the right hemisphere was paradoxically enhanced during the nonverbal task, but RT varied as a function of differential hemispheric arousal in the expected manner--e.g., RT to words was fastest in the performance set showing greatest relative left hemisphere arousal.
D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*