Effect of temporal constraints on hemispheric asymmetries during spatial frequency processing.
Studies on functional hemispheric asymmetries have suggested that the right vs. left hemisphere should be predominantly involved in low vs. high spatial frequency (SF) analysis, respectively. By manipulating exposure duration of filtered natural scene images, we examined whether the temporal characteristics of SF analysis (i.e., the temporal precedence of low on high spatial frequencies) may interfere with hemispheric specialization. Results showed the classical hemispheric specialization pattern for brief exposure duration and a trend to a right hemisphere advantage irrespective of the SF content for longer exposure duration. The present study suggests that the hemispheric specialization pattern for visual information processing should be considered as a dynamic system, wherein the superiority of one hemisphere over the other could change according to the level of temporal constraints: the higher the temporal constraints of the task, the more the hemispheres are specialized in SF processing.
Peyrin
Carole
C
INSERM U455, Hopital Purpan, Toulouse, France. carole.peyrin@upmf-grenoble.fr
Mermillod
Martial
M
Chokron
Sylvie
S
Marendaz
Christian
C
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology