title: Recognition of facial expression in diverging socioeconomic levels.
abstract: Cerebral organization has been seen to vary in different social or ethnic groups; also, sociocultural retardation is a serious obstacle to development in poorer countries. The ability of the right hemisphere to recognize facial emotions in a tachistoscopic task was tested in university and low-socioeconomic-level subjects. All were male and right-handed. The university students recognized facial emotions projected to their left field-right hemisphere significantly better than with their right field-left hemisphere; the low-socioeconomic-level subjects showed no differences in hemispheric performance. The explanation of laterality as a function of social class may be of importance in dealing with sociocultural retardation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Sciences, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fuentes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005149:Facial Expression; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*