Hemispheric semantic priming in the single word presentation task (original) (raw)
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Automatic semantic priming in the left and right hemispheres
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2007
We investigated hemispheric differences and inter-hemispheric transfer of facilitation in automatic semantic priming, using prime-target pairs composed of words of the same category but not associated (e.g. skirt-glove), and a blank-target baseline condition. Reaction time and accuracy were measured at short (300 ms) intervals between prime and target onsets, using a go/no-go task to discriminate between word or non-word targets. Reaction times were facilitated more for target words presented in the right visual field (RVF) compared to the left visual field (LVF), and targets presented in RVF were primed in both visual fields, whereas targets presented in LVF were primed by primes in the LVF only. These results suggest that both hemispheres are capable of automatic priming at very short stimulus onset asymmetries (SOA), but crosshemisphere priming occurs only in the left hemisphere.
Neuropsychologia, 1999
The contribution of each cerebral hemisphere to the generation of semantic category meanings at automatic and strategic levels of processing was investigated in a priming experiment where prime and target words were independently projected to the left or right visual ®elds (LVF or RVF). Non-associated category exemplars were employed as related pairs in a lexical decision task and presented in two experimental conditions. The ®rst condition was designed to elicit automatic processing, so related pairs comprised 20% of the positive set, stimulus pairs were temporally separated by a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 250 ms, and there was no allusion to the presence of related pairs in the instructions to subjects. The second condition, designed to invoke controlled processing, incorporated a relatedness proportion of 50%, stimulus pairs separated by an SOA of 750 ms, and instructions which informed subjects of the presence and use of category exemplar pairs in the stimulus set. In the ®rst condition, a prime directed to either visual ®eld facilitated responses to categorically related targets subsequently projected to the RVF, while in the second condition a prime directed to either visual ®eld facilitated responses to related targets projected to the LVF. The facilitation eects obtained in both conditions appeared to re¯ect automatic processes, while strategic processes were invoked in the left, but not the right hemisphere in the second condition. The results suggest that both hemispheres have automatic access to semantic category meanings, although the timecourse of activation of semantic category meanings is slower in the right hemisphere than in the left.
Brain and Language, 2007
Goals: Research with lateralized word presentation has suggested that strong (''close'') and weak (''remote'') semantic associates are processed differently in the left and right cerebral hemispheres [e.g., Beeman, M. j., & Chiarello, C. (1998). Complementary right-and left-hemisphere language comprehension. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7(1), 2-8]. Recently, this hypothesis has been challenged [Coney, J. (2002). The effect of associative strength on priming in the cerebral hemispheres. Brain and Cognition, 50(2), 234-241]. We predicted that foveal presentation of strong and weak associates would elicit different patterns of hemispheric activity, as indexed by high-density event-related brain potentials (ERPs), and that source localization of the scalp potentials would help clarify the nature of hemispheric contributions to semantic organization. Methods: 128-channel ERPs were recorded in two experiments as subjects performed a lexical decision task. Word trials were equally divided into strongly related, weakly related, and unrelated word pairs. All words were foveally presented. SOA was 800ms in Experiment 1, and 200ms in Experiment 2. Results: Topographic analyses revealed medial frontal (MFN) and parietal (N400/LPC) effects for both strong and weak associates. Between $450 and 550 ms, the magnitude of the N400/LPC effect indicated priming for both strong and weak associates over left parietal sites, while priming over right parietal sites was restricted to strongly related word pairs. During this interval, spatiotemporal source modeling showed that these scalp effects were best accounted for by ipsilateral sources in the medial temporal lobe. The observed pattern of asymmetries for strong versus weak associates is not consistent with certain proposals regarding the complementarity of right-and left-hemisphere contributions to semantics. It is, however, consistent with findings from visual half-field studies (Hasbrooke and Chiarello, 1998). We discuss the relevance of these results for theories of hemispheric asymmetry and meta-control in lexical semantic access.
Brain and Language, 1990
This study investigated spreading activation for words presented to the left and right hemispheres using an automatic semantic priming paradigm. Three types of semantic relations were used: similar-only (Deer-Pony), associated-only (Bee-Honey), and similar + associated (Doctor-Nurse). Priming of lexical decisions was symmetrical over visual fields for all semantic relations when prime words were centrally presented. However, when primes and targets were lateralized to the same visual field, similar-only priming was greater in the LVF than in the RVF, no priming was obtained for associated-only words, and priming was equivalent over visual fields for similar + associated words. Similar results were found using a naming task. These findings suggest that it is important to lateralize both prime and target information to assess hemisphere-specific spreading activation processes. Further, while spreading activation occurs in either hemisphere for the most highly related words (those related by category membership and association), our findings suggest that automatic access to semantic category relatedness occurs primarily in the right cerebral hemisphere. These results imply a unique role for the right hemisphere in the processing of word meanings. We relate our results to our previous proposal (Burgess & Simpson, 1988a; Chiarello, 1988c) that there is rapid selection of one meaning and suppression of other candidates in the left hemisphere, while activation spreads more diffusely in the right hemisphere. We also outline a new proposal that activation spreads in a different manner for associated words than for words related by semantic similarity.
2006
Based predominantly on semantic priming studies with divided visual field (DVF) presentation, current models of hemispheric differences in word semantic processing converge on a proposal that left hemisphere (LH) processes focus word meanings to their core by inhibiting less related meanings, whereas right hemisphere (RH) processes keep less related meanings active. The inhibition process supported by LH processing is assumed to apply to two distinct semantic processes: (a) narrowing of a single word meaning (inhibition of less related features and words), and (b) elimination of incompatible/ conflicting meanings of an ambiguous word. Semantic priming studies investigating hemispheric differences in these two processes have relied on associated prime-target pairs, which might have been problematic for two reasons. First, association might reflect lexical co-occurrence of word forms rather than effects of semantic relatedness; therefore, these studies might have confounded lexical an...
Semantic priming by pictures and words in the cerebral hemispheres
Brain research. Cognitive brain research, 2000
In order to determine whether pictures would act as more effective semantic primes than words in the right cerebral hemisphere, automatic semantic activation in intact hemispheres was studied with primed GO-NOGO lexical decision tasks by presenting word-word and picture-word pairs to the left visual field (right hemisphere) or to the right visual field (left hemisphere). Response times in Experiment 1 showed that categorically related targets (e.g., TABLE-BED) were primed only in the right visual field after both word and picture primes. Experiment 2 found that picture primes activated the representations of the corresponding written names in both visual fields. These observations suggest that the range of automatic semantic activation is larger in the left than in the right hemisphere. The results implicate that semantic categories may be organized in a different fashion in the left than the right hemisphere.
Hemispheric differences in the recruitment of semantic processing mechanisms
Neuropsychologia, 2010
This study examined how the two cerebral hemispheres recruit semantic processing mechanisms by combining event-related potential measures and visual half-field methods in a word priming paradigm in which semantic strength and predictability were manipulated using lexically associated word pairs. Activation patterns on the Late Positive Complex (LPC), linked to controlled aspects of processing, showed that previously documented left hemisphere (LH) processing benefits for word pairs with a weak forward ...
Cortex, 2004
Two experiments are reported that examined qualitative differences in how semantic information is represented in the two hemispheres. In the first experiment, items that were associatively related but did not share semantic features or membership in semantic categories produced priming when delivered to the LH (RVF) but not to the RH (LVF). In the second experiment items that shared semantic features but were neither associates nor in the same category produced priming in the RH (LVF), but not in the LH (RVF). Together, the two experiments support the theory that, in the right hemisphere, semantic memories are represented within a distributed system, on the basis of semantic features, whereas, in the left hemisphere representations are, as in local models, relatively more holistic, and are connected via associative links.
Semantic and phonemic priming in the cerebral hemispheres
Neuropsychologia, 1990
Representation of semantic and phonemic codes in the cerebral hemispheres was investigated in two priming experiments where prime and target words were independently projected to the left or right visual fields. The first experiment, using phonemic primes. confirmed the view that phonological information is not accessible to the right hemisphere. Priming effects were obtained only when the prime and target were both projected to the right visual field. The second experiment. employing category exemplars as primes, again found the left hemisphere to be the prinicipal locus of the priming effects. The right hemisphere was unable, by itself, to activate words related to the exemplar prime. However. projection of the prime to the right visual field significantly facilitated responses to left visual field targets. The present findings support the view advanced by Drews
The unification of mind: Integration of hemispheric semantic processing
Brain and Language, 2003
Seventy-six participants performed a visual half-field lexical decision task at two different stimulus onset asynchronies (50 or 750 ms). Word targets were primed either by a highly associated word (e.g., CLEAN-DIRTY), a weakly associated word (e.g., CLEAN-TIDY), or an unrelated word (e.g., CLEAN-FAMILY) projected to either the same or opposite visual field (VF) as the target. In the short SOA, RVF-left hemisphere primes resulted in high associate priming regardless of target location (ipsilateral or contralateral to the prime) whereas LVF-right hemisphere primes produced both high and low associate priming across both target location conditions. In the long SOA condition, contralateral priming patterns converged, demonstrating only high associate priming in both VF locations. The results of this study demonstrate the critical role of interhemispheric transfer in semantic processing and indicate a need to elaborate current models of semantic processing.