title: Semantic processing in the left versus right cerebral hemispheres following unilateral hand contractions.
abstract: Unilateral hand contractions increase activation in the motor cortex of the contralateral hemisphere, providing a means to alter the relative degree of activation in the right hemisphere versus the left hemisphere through spreading activation. Prior research reported enhanced verbal creativity as measured by performance on remote associate problems in Hebrew from left-hand contractions (right-hemisphere activation). We sought to extend the previous findings to English problems and to homograph interpretation. In Experiment 1, unilateral hand contractions in fact altered performance on the English remote associates, but in the direction of improved performance following right-hand contractions and left-hemisphere activation. In Experiment 2, the probability of retrieving atypical interpretations of homographs with multiple meanings was least likely for left-hemisphere dominant strong right handers, but the hand contraction manipulation had no effect.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Saint Louis University , St. Louis , MO , USA.
authors.forename: Casey E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Saint Louis University , St. Louis , MO , USA.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Saint Louis University , St. Louis , MO , USA.
authors.forename: Ronald T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Kellogg
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012660:Semantics; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Unilateral hand contractions; coarse semantic coding; creativity; hemispheric differences; line bisection