Hemispheric specialization for processing Chinese characters: some evidence from lexical decision vocal reaction...

Lexical decision vocal reaction times (RT) were obtained for a group of Chinese subjects to unilateral tachistoscopically presented pictorial, single, and combination Chinese characters. The RT showed a significant right visual-field advantage, with significant correlations of performance between the visual fields for each type of character. Error analysis gave a significant interaction between visual fields and error type--significantly more false positive errors occurred following left visual-field inputs. These results suggest that the left hemisphere was responsible for processing each type of character, possibly reflecting superior postaccess lexical-decision processes.