Processing of preconsciously acquired information measured by hemispheric asymmetry and selection accuracy

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of instruction types on hemispheric activation and accurate selection of spatial stimuli that had been previously presented at a subliminal level. Right-handed females randomly received either an "analytic" or a "holistic" instruction. Both groups first saw a series of slides for an extremely brief time (1 ms). Subsequently, these slides were paired with similar but novel slides. One group was asked to view the pairs analytically and to select the one they thought they had seen before. The other group was asked to view the pairs holistically and indicate which of the two they preferred. The results supported the hypothesis that analytic subjects would be more likely to engage the parietal region of their left hemisphere and holistic subjects would favor relative activation of the right parietal region (Mann-Whitney test, U = 57, p less than .04). An inverse relation was also detected between parietal laterality and selection accuracy, r(26) = .39, p less than .05. The findings are discussed in terms of a memory model of information processing.