title: Hemispheric lateralization of semantic feature distinctiveness.
abstract: Recent models of semantic memory propose that the semantic representation of concepts is based, in part, on a network of features. In this view, a feature that is distinctive for an object (a zebra has stripes) is processed differently from a feature that is shared across many objects (a zebra has four legs). The goal of this paper is to determine whether there are hemispheric differences in such processing. In a feature verification task, participants responded 'yes' or 'no' following concepts which were presented to a single visual field (left or right) paired with a shared or distinctive feature. Both hemispheres showed faster reaction times to shared features than to distinctive features, although right hemisphere responses were significantly slower overall and particularly in the processing of distinctive features. These findings support models of semantic processing in which the dominant left hemisphere more efficiently performs highly discriminating 'fine' encoding, in contrast to the right hemisphere which performs less discriminating 'coarse' encoding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, 190 Thayer Street, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States. Electronic address: megan_reilly@brown.edu.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reilly
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, 190 Thayer Street, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, 190 Thayer Street, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, United States; Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Blumstein
mesh_terms: D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics
keywords: Categorization; Lateralization; Semantic memory; Visual half-field