Functional cerebral asymmetry: a test of the selective activational model

Two experiments were designed to selectively prime each cerebral hemisphere to evaluate Kinsbourne's selective activation model. The left hemisphere priming manipulation for both experiments was subvocal rehearsal of neutral words, whereas right hemisphere primes consisted of imagery (Experiment 1) and subvocal rehearsal of affective words (Experiment 2). Reaction time performance in the visual field contralateral to the activated hemisphere was hypothesized to improve. No evidence supporting this hypothesis was found in these experiments, though experimental tasks had significant interference effects. In Experiment 1, non-specific interference effects were found across visual fields for both experimental tasks, suggesting the hemispheres were not preferentially recruited. Right visual field interference was observed in Experiment 2 for subvocal rehearsal, particularly of affective words, implicating selective left hemisphere activation. This finding indicates an overloading of the left hemisphere's affective perceptual capabilities. Significantly, no equivalent right hemisphere effects were observed, suggesting different functional space characteristics for affect perception across the hemispheres. These findings appear to substantiate a structural rather than activational model of functional cerebral asymmetries, but interference effects do unequivocally support either model. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, neutral faces were perceived as angry equally often in both visual fields, though neutral faces in the control and affective rehearsal conditions were more frequently perceived as angry relative to the neutral rehearsal condition. Methodological issues are presented to account for these findings.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1992

Author dc:creator

• Demakis, George J.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Harrison, David W.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Stephens, Robert S.
• Southard, Douglas R.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-12232009-020403

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/46387