Influence of word class proportion on cerebral asymmetries for high- and low-imagery words

Brain Cogn. 2005 Feb;57(1):35-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2004.08.024.

Abstract

It has been claimed that the typical RVF/LH advantage for word recognition is reduced or eliminated for imageable, as compared to nonimageable, nouns. To determine whether such word-class effects vary depending on the stimulus list context in which the words are presented, we varied the proportion of high- and low-image words presented in a lateralized lexical decision task (0, 25, 50, 75, or 100% high image). Although the RVF/LH advantage for high-image words was unaltered by word-class proportion, a significant linear trend was obtained for the low-image words such that the RVF/LH advantage increased as the proportion of low-image words increased. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of how lexical processing is distributed across hemispheres.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Imagination / physiology*
  • Male
  • Reaction Time / physiology*
  • Reading
  • Recognition, Psychology / physiology*
  • Reference Values
  • Vocabulary*