Hemispheric Differences in the Processing of Words Learned Early Versus Later in Childhood

The research investigated whether there are hemispheric differences in processing for words acquired early in childhood (early AoA) and words acquired later in childhood (late AoA). We hypothesized that because of recent evidence suggesting that there is a right hemisphere dominance in early childho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of general psychology 2013-07, Vol.140 (3), p.174-186
Main Authors: Bowers, J. Michael, Bradley, Kristopher I., Kennison, Shelia M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
age of acquisition
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Child development
divided visual field paradigm
Female
Functional Laterality
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
hemispheric differences
Humans
Information processing
Language
Language acquisition
Language Development
Learning
lexical decision task
Male
Miscellaneous
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Visual Fields
Young Adult
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Summary:The research investigated whether there are hemispheric differences in processing for words acquired early in childhood (early AoA) and words acquired later in childhood (late AoA). We hypothesized that because of recent evidence suggesting that there is a right hemisphere dominance in early childhood, early AoA words would be represented in the right hemisphere, and late AoA words would be represented in the left hemisphere. This hypothesis differs from an early view that late AoA words would be represented in the left hemisphere, and early AoA words would be represented in both hemispheres (Gazzaniga, 1974). We report two experiments using the divided visual field (DVF) technique. The results showed that there was a right visual field (RVF)/left hemisphere (LH) advantage only for late AoA words. For early AoA words, there was a left visual field (LVF)/right hemisphere advantage (RH). Implications for theories of hemispheric differences in word processing are discussed.
ISSN:0022-1309
1940-0888
DOI:10.1080/00221309.2013.783779