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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 22, 2026

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

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Hemispheric resource availability influences face perception: a multiple resource approach to social perception.

L Omar Rivera¹, Clarissa J Arms-Chavez, Michael A Zárate

¹Department of Psychology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. LORivera@miners.utep.edu

|May 19, 2012

Summary

Social perception relies on distinct processing resources in each brain hemisphere. This study shows that depleting resources in one hemisphere impacts social perception tasks, supporting a hemispheric specialization model.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Social Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Social perception involves complex cognitive processes.
The brain's cerebral hemispheres may specialize in distinct processing functions.
Limited-capacity processing resources are hypothesized to underlie cognitive tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether social perception utilizes distinct processing resources lateralized to the cerebral hemispheres.
To test the hypothesis of hemispheric specialization in social perception resource allocation.

Main Methods:

Two experiments employed unilateral visual presentation of prime faces followed by central target face categorization (sex or fame).
Processing resources were depleted by presenting primes to specific visual fields (left or right).
Reaction times for target face categorization were measured to assess social perception efficiency.

Main Results:

Sex categorization was slower when prime faces were presented to the right visual field (left hemisphere processing).
Fame categorization was slower when familiar prime faces were presented to the left visual field (right hemisphere processing).
These findings indicate differential hemispheric involvement in social perception tasks.

Conclusions:

Social perception recruits distinct, limited-capacity processing resources.
These resources are differentially distributed across the cerebral hemispheres, supporting a multiple resource account.
Hemispheric specialization influences the efficiency of social perception.