Qualitatively different organizational structures of lexical knowledge in the left and right hemisphere

The present study investigates and discusses the organization of lexical knowledge in the intact left and right hemisphere within the framework of hemisphere-specific cognitive modes of processing. Using a divided visual field technique, word pairs of concrete nouns had to be judged. Semantic relation was either intraconceptual (coordinates) or interconceptual (locative). The results suggest that the left hemisphere, lexical structures are predominantly based on intraconceptual relationships corresponding to its analytic sequential processing mechanism, whereas in the right hemisphere, lexical entries are exclusively associated by means of interconceptual relationships in accordance with its "gestalthaft" holistic processor.