Hemispheric differences in the processing of pictures of typical and atypical semantic category members

In the following experiment, pictures of typical and atypical category members were categorised by subjects after presentation to either the left or right visual field. Three different categories were investigated. The results in part replicate a previous study by Zaidel (1987), who found an interaction between visual field and typicality. She suggested this result might reflect different conceptual organisations for each hemisphere. However, in the present study, the Visual Field x Typicality interaction was not evident in the two other categories investigated, and it is argued that any conclusion regarding conceptual organisation may be premature. Further work is needed to address the issue.