Inter-versus intrahemispheric concordance of judgments in a nonexplicit memory task

Performance for explicit probed recollection of an item's presentation is usually superior when initial presentation and probe are directed to the same hemisphere than when they are directed to opposite hemispheres. The present study explored whether a same-hemisphere advantage could also be observed for a nonexplicit memory task by examining concordance for initial and subsequent ratings of line length. Results indicated that mean ratings of line length differed less between initial and subsequent presentation when the lines were viewed in the same rather than opposite visual fields. This finding held even though mean ratings for initial presentation of items in the right and left visual fields did not differ. These findings suggest that the same-hemisphere advantage is a relatively basic characteristic of memorial processing in the hemispheres.