Right Hemisphere Specialization for Depth Perception reflected in Visual Field Differences

Nature ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 231 (5302) ◽  
pp. 394-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGARET DURNFORD ◽  
DOREEN KIMURA
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Depth Perception ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Hemisphere Specialization

Right-Hemisphere Specialization for Contour Grouping

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 331-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Volberg
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Contour Detection ◽  
Global Processing ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Frequency Spectra ◽  
Visual Hemifield ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
A Chain ◽  
The Right ◽  
Hemisphere Specialization

Previous studies often revealed a right-hemisphere specialization for processing the global level of compound visual stimuli. Here we explore whether a similar specialization exists for the detection of intersected contours defined by a chain of local elements. Subjects were presented with arrays of randomly oriented Gabor patches that could contain a global path of collinearly arranged elements in the left or in the right visual hemifield. As expected, the detection accuracy was higher for contours presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere. This difference was absent in two control conditions where the smoothness of the contour was decreased. The results demonstrate that the contour detection, often considered to be driven by lateral coactivation in primary visual cortex, relies on higher-level visual representations that differ between the hemispheres. Furthermore, because contour and non-contour stimuli had the same spatial frequency spectra, the results challenge the view that the right-hemisphere advantage in global processing depends on a specialization for processing low spatial frequencies.

Split brains

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Schechter
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Brain Surgery ◽  
Interhemispheric Interaction ◽  
Split Brain ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

The largest fibre tract in the human brain connects the two cerebral hemispheres. A ‘split-brain’ surgery severs this structure, sometimes together with other white matter tracts connecting the right hemisphere and the left. Split-brain surgeries have long been performed on non-human animals for experimental purposes, but a number of these surgeries were also performed on adult human beings in the second half of the twentieth century, as a medical treatment for severe cases of epilepsy. A number of these people afterwards agreed to participate in ongoing research into the psychobehavioural consequences of the procedure. These experiments have helped to show that the corpus callosum is a significant source of interhemispheric interaction and information exchange in the ‘neurotypical’ brain. After split-brain surgery, the two hemispheres operate unusually independently of each other in the realm of perception, cognition, and the control of action. For instance, each hemisphere receives visual information directly from the opposite (‘contralateral’) side of space, the right hemisphere from the left visual field and the left hemisphere from the right visual field. This is true of the normal (‘neurotypical’) brain too, but in the neurotypical case interhemispheric tracts allow either hemisphere to gain access to the information that the other has received. In a split-brain subject however the information more or less stays put in whatever hemisphere initially received it. And it isn’t just visual information that is confined to one hemisphere or the other after the surgery. Rather, after split-brain surgery, each hemisphere is the source of proprietary perceptual information of various kinds, and is also the source of proprietary memories, intentions, and aptitudes. Various notions of psychological unity or integration have always been central to notions of mind, personhood, and the self. Although split-brain surgery does not prevent interhemispheric interaction or exchange, it naturally alters and impedes it. So does the split-brain subject as a whole nonetheless remain a unitary psychological being? Or could there now be two such psychological beings within one human animal – sharing one body, one face, one voice? Prominent neuropsychologists working with the subjects have often appeared to argue or assume that a split-brain subject has a divided or disunified consciousness and even two minds. Although a number of philosophers agree, the majority seem to have resisted these conscious and mental ‘duality claims’, defending alternative interpretations of the split-brain experimental results. The sources of resistance are diverse, including everything from a commitment to the necessary unity of consciousness, to recognition of those psychological processes that remain interhemispherically integrated, to concerns about what the moral and legal consequences would be of recognizing multiple psychological beings in one body. On the other hand underlying most of these arguments against the various ‘duality’ claims is the simple fact that the split-brain subject does not appear to be two persons, but one – and there are powerful conceptual, social, and moral connections between being a unitary person on the one hand and having a unified consciousness and mind on the other.

Gender differences in cognition and perception may affect equine performance

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 203-205
Author(s):  
J Murphy ◽  
T Waldmann ◽  
S Arkins
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Depth Perception ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Small Laboratory ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
General Preference ◽  
Show Jumping ◽  
Binocular Visual Field

Horses and their owners participate in an increasingly diverse range of equestrian pursuits including such activities as racing, show-jumping, endurance riding, carriage driving, dressage, hunting, pony club games, polo and leisure trekking. The majority of owners and riders within the disciplines of equitation appear to have a general preference toward using male horses as the chosen competition animal. Although not exclusively so, stallions and geldings are quite often physically bigger and stronger than fillies and mares and may enjoy some athletic advantage as a result. However, it is known from studies involving humans and small laboratory animals (mice and rats) that some gender differences in cognitive function may also affect performance where tasks involve 3-dimensional objects and elements of depth perception (Morris, Garrud, Rawlins, and O’ Keefe, 1982). The horse has laterally placed eyes (Budiansky, 1997 and Figure 1) and therefore a stereoscopic (binocular) visual field of approximately 65-70°.

scholarly journals Low-frequency electroencephalogram oscillations govern left-eye lateralization during anti-predatory responses in the music frog

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (21) ◽  
pp. jeb232637
Author(s):  
Jiangyan Shen ◽  
Ke Fang ◽  
Ping Liu ◽  
Yanzhu Fan ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Left Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
The Right ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Steady Velocity

ABSTRACTVisual lateralization is widespread for prey and anti-predation in numerous taxa. However, it is still unknown how the brain governs this asymmetry. In this study, we conducted behavioral and electrophysiological experiments to evaluate anti-predatory behaviors and dynamic brain activities in Emei music frogs (Nidirana daunchina), to explore the potential eye bias for anti-predation and the underlying neural mechanisms. To do this, predator stimuli (a model snake head and a leaf as a control) were moved around the subjects in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions at steady velocity. We counted the number of anti-predatory responses and measured electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectra for each band and brain area (telencephalon, diencephalon and mesencephalon). Our results showed that (1) no significant eye preferences could be found for the control (leaf); however, the laterality index was significantly lower than zero when the predator stimulus was moved anti-clockwise, suggesting that left-eye advantage exists in this species for anti-predation; (2) compared with no stimulus in the visual field, the power spectra of delta and alpha bands were significantly greater when the predator stimulus was moved into the left visual field anti-clockwise; and, (3) generally, the power spectra of each band in the right-hemisphere for the left visual field were higher than those in the left counterpart. These results support that the left eye mediates the monitoring of a predator in music frogs and lower-frequency EEG oscillations govern this visual lateralization.

scholarly journals Visuospatial Attention and the Split Brain

Physiology ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 226-231
Author(s):  
G Berlucchi ◽  
GR Mangun ◽  
MS Gazzaniga
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Split Brain ◽  
Right Hemisphere Damage ◽  
Entire Visual Field ◽  
The Right

In callosotomy patients, the right hemisphere attends to the entire visual field, whereas the left hemisphere attends to the right field only. The occurence of rightward attentional biases, simulating a hemineglect from right hemisphere damage, suggests that in these patients visuospatial attention tends to be controlled by the left hemisphere.

Vocal Reaction Times to Tachistoscopically Presented High- and Low-Frequency Verbs: Some Evidence for Selective Minor Hemisphere Linguistic Analysis

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 803-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Rastatter ◽  
Catherine Loren
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Intact Brain ◽  
The Right

The current study investigated the capacity of the right hemisphere to process verbs using a paradigm proven reliable for predicting differential, minor hemisphere lexical analysis in the normal, intact brain. Vocal reaction times of normal subjects were measured to unilaterally presented verbs of high and of low frequency. A significant interaction was noted between the stimulus items and visual fields. Post hoc tests showed that vocal reaction times to verbs of high frequency were significantly faster following right visual-field presentations (right hemisphere). No significant differences in vocal reaction time occurred between the two visual fields for the verbs of low frequency. Also, significant differences were observed between the two types of verbs following left visual-field presentation but not the right. These results were interpreted to suggest that right-hemispheric analysis was restricted to the verbs of high frequency in the presence of a dominant left hemisphere.

Altered visual field asymmetry for lexical decision as a result of concurrent presentation of music fragments of different emotional valences

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN W. VAN STRIEN ◽  
CLAUDIA A. BOON
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Left Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Field Performance ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Baseline Condition ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Noise Condition

Sixteen right-handed male students were administered a unilateral lexical decision task in 4 conditions: a baseline condition and three sound conditions. In the sound conditions, the participants listened to noise, to music with a positive emotional valence, and to music with a negative emotional valence, while performing the visual half-field task. In the baseline condition, the noise condition, and the positive music condition, lexical decision latencies were shorter to right than to left visual field presentations. In the negative music condition, there was a selective enhancement of left visual field performance, which cancelled the visual field advantage completely. None of the concurrent sounds affected autonomic arousal as measured by heart rate. The results demonstrated that music with a negative emotional valence can alter the half-field asymmetry of a verbal task. The outcome was discussed in terms of right hemisphere priming due to negative emotional experience. (JINS, 1997, 3, 473–479.)

Categorical and Metric Spatial Processes Distinguished by Task Demands and Practice

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie T. Banich ◽  
Kara D. Federmeier
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Metric Distance ◽  
The Right ◽  
Categorical Spatial Relations

In this study we examined Kosslyn's (1987) claim that the right hemisphere exhibits a relative superiority for processing metric spatial relations, whereas the left hemisphere exhibits a relative superiority for processing categorical spatial relations. In particular, we examined whether some failures to observe strong visual field (VF) advantages in previous studies might be due to practice effects that allowed individuals to process tasks in alternative manners (e.g., to process a metric task using a categorical strategy). We used two versions of a task previously employed by Hellige and Michimata (1989) in which individuals judge the metric (distance) or categorical (above/below) spatial relations between a bar and a dot. In one version, the position of the bar was held static. In another, the bar's position varied. This manipulation prevented participants from using the computer screen as a reference frame, forcing them to compute the spatial relationships on the basis of the relevant items only (i.e., the bar and the dot). In the latter, but not the former version of the task we obtained evidence supporting Kosslyn's hypothesis, namely, a significant right visual field (RVF) advantage for categorical spatial processing and a trend toward a left visual field (LVF) advantage for metric spatial processing. Furthermore, the pattern of results for trials on which information was presented centrally (CVF trials) was similar to that observed on RVF trials, whereas the pattern for trials in which identical information was presented in each visual field (BVF trials) was similar to that observed on LVF trials. Such a pattern is consistent with Kosslyn's suggestion that categorical processing is better suited for cells with small receptive fields and metric processing for cells with larger receptive fields.

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