The present study measured naming reaction times by normal subjects to unilaterally presented picture stimuli. Significant differences in picture-naming reaction time did not exist between left and right visual-field stimulations. The right hemisphere in the intact brain is capable of generating a verbal label for pictured stimuli. A psychological model suggests that a possible processing synergy between the two hemispheres may be tied to spatial processing and elementary linguistics.
References
1.
AnnettM.A classification of hand preference by association analysis. British Journal of Psychology, 1970, 61, 303–321.
2.
CousinoM.RastatterM. P.Reaction times of four year old children to monaurally presented verbal stimuli: some evidence for right hemispheric linguistic processing. Cortex, in press.
3.
DayJ.Right-hemispheric language processing in normal right-handers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1977, 3, 518–528.
4.
GazzanigaM. S.HillyardS. A.Language and speech capacity of the right hemipshere. Neuropsychologia, 1971, 9, 273–280.
5.
GazzanigaM. S.SperryR. W.Language after section of the cerebral commissures. Brain, 1967, 90, 131–148.
6.
LevyJ.Psychobiological implications of bilateral asymmetry. In DimondS. J.BeaumontJ. G. (Eds.), Hemisphere function in the human brain. New York: Halstead Press, 1974. Pp. 121–183.
7.
LevyJ.NebesR. D.SperryR. W.Expressive language in the surgically separated minor hemisphere. Cortex, 1971, 7, 49–59.
8.
MoscovitchM.Right-hemisphere language. Topics in Language Disorders, 1981, 1, 41–66.
9.
RastatterM. P.GallaherA. J.Reaction times of normal subjects to monaurally presented verbal and tonal stimuli. Neuropsychologia, 1982, 20, 465–473.
10.
ThorndikeE. L.LorgeI.The teachers' work book of 30000 words. New York: Columbia Univer., 1944.
11.
ZaidelE.Concepts of cerebral dominance in the split brain. In BuserP. A.Rougel-BuserA. (Eds.), Cerebral correlates of conscious experience. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North-Holland, 1978. Pp. 263–284.
12.
ZaidelE.Lexical organization in the right hemisphere. In BuserP. A.Rougel-BuserA. (Eds.), Cerebral correlates of conscious experience. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North-Holland, 1978. Pp. 177–198.
