Gender differences in lateralized semantic priming.
Previous literature suggests that women evidence more bilateral cerebral organization, particularly in language processing, whereas men show greater left hemisphere dominance for language. This study examined the magnitude of these gender differences in a lateralized lexical decision task and the implications of such differences to semantic processing and cerebral organization. As predicted, women, as compared to men, recruited greater bilateral hemispheric resources, as evidenced by greater contralateral hemispheric priming. Spatial skills predicted less priming in women, but not in men. Implications for laterality research in aging populations as well as future directions are discussed.
Van Dyke
Sarah A
SA
Psychology Department, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
Zuverza
Virginia
V
Hill
Laura A
LA
Miller
Justin B
JB
Rapport
Lisa J
LJ
Whitman
R Douglas
RD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D012737:Sex Factors; D013028:Space Perception; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult