Hemispheric asymmetries in reading Korean: task matters

Native Korean readers were studied in a visual half-field paradigm. Subjects were to make speeded judgments on Hangul (syllabic) and Hanzza (logographic) scripts based on phonetic or visual properties of the stimuli. A task by visual field interaction was obtained indicating that, for both scripts, responses on the phonetic task were faster in the right visual field, whereas no visual field differences were found on the visual task. Script type did not interact with visual field. The results support a task-based account of hemispheric differences in verbal processing.