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Lateralization

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention

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Published on: November 16, 2017

Right hemisphere metaphor processing? Characterizing the lateralization of semantic processes.

Gwen L Schmidt¹, Casey J DeBuse, Carol A Seger

¹Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1876, USA. gwen.schmidt@colostate.edu

Brain and Language

|February 13, 2007

Summary

Brain hemisphere roles in language processing depend on semantic relationship distance, not metaphor. Unfamiliar distant relationships engage the right hemisphere, while familiar close relationships engage the left hemisphere.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Psycholinguistics

Background:

Previous research suggests right hemisphere involvement in metaphor processing.
The specific role of semantic processing versus metaphoricity itself remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the hemispheric processing of semantic relationships in sentences.
To differentiate the roles of metaphoricity and semantic distance in brain lateralization.

Main Methods:

Three divided visual field experiments were conducted.
Metaphorical and literal sentences with varying familiarity and semantic relationships were used.

Main Results:

A right hemisphere advantage was observed for unfamiliar sentences with distant semantic relationships.
A left hemisphere advantage was found for familiar sentences with close semantic relationships.
These effects were consistent for both metaphorical and literal sentences.

Conclusions:

Semantic relationship distance, not metaphoricity, drives the observed hemispheric advantages.
Findings support theories of left hemisphere dominance for close semantic processing and right hemisphere dominance for distant semantic processing.