Related Experiment Videos
Hemisphere differences in conscious and unconscious word reading
Jillian H Fecteau1, Alan Kingstone, James T Enns
1University of British Columbia, Canada. jillian@eyeml.queensu.ca
Consciousness and Cognition
|September 1, 2004
Summary
The left hemisphere shows an advantage for conscious word reading. However, unconscious word reading processes are shared equally between brain hemispheres, as demonstrated by split-brain patient studies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- The left hemisphere is traditionally associated with language processing, including word reading.
- Previous research suggests a lateralization of word reading functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate hemisphere differences in word reading using both explicit and implicit processing measures.
- To determine if the left hemisphere advantage extends to unconscious word reading.
Main Methods:
- Utilized inclusion and exclusion tasks to differentiate between conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) word reading.
- Presented words to either the left or right visual field to assess hemispheric processing.
- Included experiments with a split-brain patient to examine interhemispheric communication.
Main Results:
- Words presented to the right visual field (processed by the left hemisphere) were more accessible for conscious report.
- Unconsciously processed words showed similar processing regardless of visual field presentation, indicating interhemispheric sharing.
- Split-brain patient data confirmed that this unconscious word sharing is cortically mediated.
Conclusions:
- The left hemisphere advantage in word reading is specific to explicit (conscious) processing.
- Implicit (unconscious) word reading is largely balanced between the left and right brain hemispheres.
- Interhemispheric pathways play a crucial role in sharing unconsciously processed word information.