Reduction of left visual field lexical decision accuracy as a result of concurrent nonverbal auditory stimulation.
To investigate whether concurrent nonverbal sound sequences would affect visual-hemifield lexical processing, lexical-decision performance of 24 strongly right-handed students (12 men, 12 women) was measured in three conditions: baseline, concurrent neutral sound sequence, and concurrent emotional sound sequence. With the neutral sequence, Naveteru, Roy, Ovelac, and Steinling (1992) had observed a right greater than left cerebral blood flow, and an opposite pattern with the emotional sequence. In the present study, the neutral sound sequence induced a significant accuracy reduction for lexical decisions to stimuli presented in the left visual field. It is hypothesized that RH activation in response to neutral sounds interferes with the limited lexical processing resources of that hemisphere.
Van Strien
Jan W
JW
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, Rotterdam 3000 DR, The Netherlands. vanstrien@fsw.eur.nl
D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014825:Vocabulary