Abstract

<p indent=0mm>Adults show the left-visual field/right-hemisphere advantage for the recognition of face. The experience of auditory deprivation and sign language in hearing-impaired individuals could reshape the function and structure of brain. Previous studies suggest that hearing-impaired individuals demonstrate the right-visual field or left-hemisphere superiority for visuospatial attention, visual motion information processing and facial expression processing. The present study aims to further investigate the brain lateralization for face processing in hearing-impaired adults by using behavioral and ERP measures. In experiment 1, the divided visual field paradigm was used and the accuracies and corrected reaction times of face processing in the left-visual field were found to be significantly higher and shorter than those in the right-visual field for hearing individuals, whereas there were no significant differences between left- and right-visual field in hearing-impaired individuals. However, both hearing and hearing-impaired individuals showed the same left-visual field superiority for word processing efficiency. In experiment 2, One-back task and ERPs were used to investigate the brain lateralization of face recognition in hearing and hearing-impaired individuals. The results showed that the N170 amplitude for face processing in the right hemisphere was significantly larger than that in the left hemisphere for hearing individuals. However, there was no significant difference in N170 amplitude between the left and right hemispheres for hearing-impaired individuals. As for word processing, hearing and hearing-impaired individuals both showed a bilateral activation. Therefore, the current study provided converging evidence that the left-visual field or right hemisphere superiority for face processing in hearing-impaired individuals disappeared. These findings not only expand our understanding of the face processing in hearing-impaired individuals, but also help us understand the hemispheric organization for face recognition.

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