English and Hebrew letter report by English- and Hebrew-reading subjects: evidence for stimulus control, not...

Three experiments were conducted using tachistoscopic circular displays of English and/or Hebrew letters that were equidistant from a fixation point. It was found that: (1) Irrespective of native language, English or Hebrew, subjects initiate their reports of English letters from the upper left quadrant and of Hebrew letters from the upper right quadrant of the display. In addition, subsequent letter reports come mostly from the same quadrant. (2) Although Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that direction of reporting might be a function of display language, Experiment 3 provided data to show that direction of reporting was a function of the position of the first response and not the display letter language that engaged that response, nor the display language of adjacent letters. It was suggested that the typical asymmetries reported in the literature, such as right visual field superiority for word stimuli, are the result of a particular set of stimulus conditions (e.g., hemifield presentations) and response requirements (e.g., reaction time and correct recognition). When stimulus conditions and response requirements are made compatible with previously overlearned behaviors, the potential influences of cerebral asymmetries are overshadowed by external stimulus control.