[Modes of information processing underlying hemispheric functional differences (author's transl)]

Functional hemispheric differences were investigated from the point of modes of information processing. The subject's task was to judge a set of stimulus letters same (all are identical) or different (one item differs from the rest). The set was consisted of letters of alphabet or Japanese character (Kana and Kanji), which number varied from two to five. The reaction time was recorded and plotted as a function of the number of letters in the set. When the task was name or upright matching of alphabet or Kana, RT was increased linearly for both hemispheres, suggesting serial processing. On the other hand, in the case of inverted matching of all stimuli and upright matching of Kanji, RT showed no increase as in parallel processing.