Differential visual field-interhemispheric transfer: can it explain sex and handedness differences in lateralization?
104 men and women were tested for visual field-hemispheric transfer of spatial information on a dot-localization task. Right-handed subjects showed significant improvement when stimuli were presented to the left visual field of the right hemisphere (LVF-RH) after practice on the same task presented to the right visual field of the left hemisphere (RVF-LH) first. No improvement was found when the task was presented in the reverse order (LVF-RH first followed by RVF-LH). It was concluded that, for right-handers, transfer of spatial information to the right hemisphere is facilitated while transfer to the left hemisphere is inhibited. Left-handed subjects demonstrated no significant improvement in either condition, suggesting inhibition or lack of transfer of spatial information in either direction. No sex differences were found in either right-handed or left-handed subjects. The findings suggest that there may be different mechanisms underlying the similarities in functional lateralization of women and left-handers.
Department of Psychology, University of Akron, OH 44325.
R H
RH
Haude
M
M
Morrow-Tlucak
D M
DM
Fox
K B
KB
Pickard
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014796:Visual Perception