Changes in hemispheric advantage in processing facial information with increasing stimulus familiarization.
Thirty-nine female subjects were given a task involving recognition of initially unfamiliar faces which were tachistoscopically presented to one or the other visual field. In support of a hypothesized dual mode of right hemisphere function, those subjects who showed an initial left visual field advantage exhibited a diminution and then an increase in this advantage with increasing familiarity with the faces. This resulted in a significant quadratic component in their magnitude of hemispheric advantage. In contrast, those individuals who showed an initial right visual field advantage had neither a significant linear nor quadratic component in the magnitude of their advantage. Significant correlations between number of errors and magnitude of hemispheric advantage, independent of direction, were also found. The results are discussed in terms of possible optimal sequences and timing of shifts in information processing strategies and associated hemispheric advantages.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*