Hemispheric asymmetries for complex visual patterns. 1987

P D Duda, and J O Adams

Three tachistoscopic studies examined the laterality of spatial-form perception in normal adults using randomly generated eight-point and 12-point patterns (Vanderplas & Garvin, 1959) as the lateralized stimuli. In the first study of recognition accuracy, 36 subjects were tested in a partial replication of Fontenot. No laterality effects were found, and over-all recognition was better for the more complex 12-point patterns. In a second similar study with 20 subjects, the lateralized stimulus was followed by a central masking pattern. A left-hemisphere superiority for recognition and better over-all recognition for more complex patterns was obtained. These data do not support Fontenot's report of right-hemisphere superiority in complex visuospatial processing. Given these diverse findings, a reaction time study using mental rotation was conducted using the same patterns to determine whether latency would reflect accuracy of recognition. Twenty-six subjects judged whether a rotated lateralized test pattern was the same or different from a central target pattern. Measures of both latency and accuracy were separately assessed. No main effect of visual field was obtained on either measure. These studies suggest that the nature of hemispheric involvement in spatial form perception is far from resolved.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D010364 Pattern Recognition, Visual Mental process to visually perceive a critical number of facts (the pattern), such as characters, shapes, displays, or designs. Recognition, Visual Pattern,Visual Pattern Recognition
D011930 Reaction Time The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed. Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D011939 Mental Recall The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited. Recall, Mental
D004292 Dominance, Cerebral Dominance of one cerebral hemisphere over the other in cerebral functions. Cerebral Dominance,Hemispheric Specialization,Dominances, Cerebral,Specialization, Hemispheric
D005260 Female Females
D005556 Form Perception The sensory discrimination of a pattern, shape, or outline. Contour Perception,Contour Perceptions,Form Perceptions,Perception, Contour,Perception, Form,Perceptions, Contour,Perceptions, Form
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults

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