Women but not men exhibit a positive correlation between complex partial epileptic-like signs and tactile-visual cross-modal matching: implications for hemispheric intercalation.
16 right-handed men and 19 women were asked to feel various sized wooden cubes with the dominant hand for 2 sec. (without visual feedback) and then to select this cube from a random visual arrangement of cubes (tactile-visual matching) after a brief delay. The accuracy for men and women for this task did not differ significantly; however, the accuracy was significantly correlated (rho = 0.61) with a history of complex partial epileptic-like signs for the women but not for the men. The results support the hypothesis that elevated scores for complex partial epileptic-like signs in right-handed women enhance their capacity to associate different perceptual domains of the same stimuli because there is elevated activity within the (multimodal) hippocampal-amygdaloid system (sensory-limbic hyperconnectionism) and the correlative enhanced intercalation between the right and left temporoparietal lobes.
Chellew
G
G
Department of Psychology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Persinger
M A
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D017029:Epilepsy, Complex Partial / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013236:Stereognosis / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology