Hemispheric differences in recognition memory for letters

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the relationship between hemisphere specialization and temporal changes in the status of visual and verbal codes in short-term memory. The procedure, which involved presentation of a single target letter in central vision followed by a unilateral probe, yielded a general right visual field left-hemisphere advantage for physical and name matches at stimulus onset asynchronies greater than.05 sec. The results support the hemisphere-priming view advanced by Kinsbourne (1973) and are inconsistent with alternative accounts involving temporal changes in representations in the cerebral hemispheres.