Right hemisphere participation in reading

This study examined whether the right hemisphere's contribution to lexical semantic processing is greatest when it is “disinhibited.” Skilled reading may require the controlled modulation of interhemispheric interaction: the left hemisphere (or some other control mechanism) may regulate the sub...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and language 1991-11, Vol.41 (4), p.475-495
Main Authors: Hutner, Nancy, Liederman, Jacqueline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Attention
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Dominance, Cerebral
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Paired-Associate Learning
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Reading
Semantics
Verbal Learning
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Summary:This study examined whether the right hemisphere's contribution to lexical semantic processing is greatest when it is “disinhibited.” Skilled reading may require the controlled modulation of interhemispheric interaction: the left hemisphere (or some other control mechanism) may regulate the subprocesses of reading by selectively “inhibiting” and “disinhibiting” right hemisphere function. Right-handed undergraduates concurrently performed two tasks: a lateralized semantic or rhyme task and a verbal memory task. It was hypothesized that right hemisphere reading processes would be disinhibited when the left hemisphere was “occupied” with the memory task. This hypothesis was supported for a subgroup of subjects who showed evidence of inhibition of right hemisphere function (i.e., left hemisphere dominance for lexical processing) when the lateralized semantic task was performed alone. Across subjects, there was a strong correlation between the degree of left hemisphere dominance in the single-task semantic conditions and the degree of disinhibition of right hemisphere function in the dual-task semantic condition.
ISSN:0093-934X
1090-2155
DOI:10.1016/0093-934X(91)90169-2