Qualitative hemispheric differences in semantic category matching.
A unilateral category matching task with words as stimuli was employed to investigate semantic processing in the right and left hemispheres (RH, LH). An overall right visual field (RVF)/LH dominance was observed and performances were better than chance, also in the left visual field (LVF)/RH. A qualitative analysis of reaction times with individual differences multidimensional scaling (INDSCAL) revealed that LVF/RH INDSCAL solutions were significantly more differentiated in structure than RVF/LH solutions in terms of number and size of dimensions. These findings support a depth of activation hypothesis of hemispheric processing, with the LH rapidly and focally and the RH slowly and diffusely activating the semantic network.
Taylor
K I
KI
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Brugger
P
P
Weniger
D
D
Regard
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D014825:Vocabulary