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Published on: November 16, 2017
The right hemisphere as an anomaly detector: evidence from visual perception
Stephen D Smith1, William J Tays, Michael J Dixon
1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. taschwei@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
Abstract:
V. S. Ramachandran (1998) has suggested that the right hemisphere, which tends to be specialized for the analysis of global-level information, serves as an anomaly detector. Its role is to judge whether a given percept is possible and whether there are elements of that percept that seem incongruent with the other elements. In contrast, the left hemisphere tends to create a "story" to make sense of the incongruities. In the current study, pictures of possible or impossible objects were displayed for brief exposure durations to either the left visual field/right hemisphere or to the right visual field/left hemisphere). The results provide tentative support for the work of Ramachandran. In male participants, the right hemisphere was superior to the left in detecting impossible objects.
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