Effect of visual half-field predictability and task strategy on brain laterality in men and women

In a visual half-field study 40 normal, dextral subjects, 20 men aged 18 to 20 yr. and 20 women aged 17 to 23 yr. acquired verbal labels for random shapes. Both men and women selected a verbal task strategy when the shapes were presented in a random half-field order and a spatial strategy when the figures were presented in a more predictable blocked-trials design. Women had slower RTs than men with verbal but not spatial mediation and were more lateralized for spatial function. Women seemed more lateralized for spatial tasks but disadvantaged for verbally mediated lateral-input tasks.