Linguistic Processing and Reaction Time Differences in Stutterers and Nonstutterers

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Rebekah Hand ◽  
William O. Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Response Modes ◽  
Field Efficiency ◽  
The Right ◽  
Visual Hemifields

Linguistic processing by the left and right cerebral hemispheres was investigated in 10 adult male stutterers and l0 matched nonstutterers. Subjects performed a lexical decision task in which nonword and real-word stimuli were presented tachistoscopically to the right and left visual hemifields. Vocal and manual reaction times to real words were measured to assess hemispheric participation in processing linguistic information and to determine differences between response modes. The stuttering group exhibited a left visual field efficiency or right hemisphere preference for this task and were slower in both vocal and manual reaction times. Ramifications for hemispheric processing theories and laryngeal dysfunction hypothesis are discussed.

Bihemispheric Language: How the Two Hemispheres Collaborate in the Processing of Language

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman D. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
The Right

Speech production in most people is strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH), but language understanding is generally a bilateral activity. At every level of linguistic processing that has been investigated experimentally, the right hemisphere (RH) has been found to make characteristic contributions, from the processing of the affective aspects of intonation, through the appreciation of word connotations, the decoding of the meaning of metaphors and figures of speech, to the understanding of the overall coherency of verbal humour, paragraphs and short stories. If both hemispheres are indeed engaged in linguistic decoding and both processes are required to achieve a normal level of understanding, a central question concerns how the separate language functions on the left and right are integrated. This chapter reviews relevant studies on the hemispheric contributions to language processing and the role of interhemispheric communications in cognition.

Hemispheric Asymmetries in a Signal Detection Task

1983 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 923-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Andreassi ◽  
Charles S. Rebert ◽  
Ferol F. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Verbal Stimulus ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Male Subjects ◽  
Central Fixation

Reaction time and signal detection performance were measured during a 78-min. vigilance task. 12 right-handed male subjects served in two experimental sessions. Subjects focused on a central fixation point and responded to signals presented at unpredictable times in one of three locations: 2.5° to right of central fixation, central, and 2.5° to the left of center. Subjects decided whether to press a response key with either the left or right hand with each presentation. Over-all vigilance performance (signal detections and response time) was similar for left and right visual-field presentations. Evidence from reaction times indicated that responses controlled by the left hemisphere were faster to a verbal stimulus (T) while reactions controlled by the right hemisphere were faster to an apparent non-verbal stimulus, an inverted T.

Vocal Reaction Times of Stuttering Subjects to Tachistoscopically Presented Concrete and Abstract Words

1987 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Rastatter ◽  
Carl Dell
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Functional Localization ◽  
Past Data ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
The Right

The present study was an attempt to investigate further the issues pertaining to cerebral organization for visual language processing in the stuttering population. Employing a lexical decision task, vocal reaction times were obtained for a group of 14 stutterers to unilateral, tachistoscopically presented concrete and abstract words. Results of an analysis of variance showed that a significant interaction occurred between visual fields and stimuli. Posthoc tests showed that the right hemisphere was superior for analyzing the concrete words while the left hemisphere was responsible for processing the abstract items. Compared to past data from normal subjects, these findings were interpreted as suggesting that some form of linguistic competition may exist between the two hemispheres, possibly reflecting a disturbance in functional localization in the stuttering population.

Semantic Networks in the Divided Cerebral Hemispheres

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 212-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Cronin-Golomb
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Or Organization ◽  
Visual Hemifields

Hemispheric differences in the recognition and manipulation of meaning may be based on distinctions in size, composition, or organization of the right and left semantic networks The present study describes these features of pictorially based semantic networks in 3 subjects with complete forebrain commissurotomy Stimuli were presented for prolonged viewing to the left and right visual hemifields For each trial, the subjects chose from a 20-choice array all pictures that were associated with a target, then indicated the member of each pair of chosen associates that was more closely related to the target The hemispheres' networks were found to be of similar size and composition, but were organized differently The right hemisphere more often produced linear rankings of semantic associates to a target than did the left, and rankings by the two hemispheres were not strongly correlated Hemispheric differences in semantic organization mirror differences in perceptual organization, with the right hemisphere specialized for conventional meaning and the left hemisphere specialized for detecting and processing deviations from standard meaning

scholarly journals A transcallosal fiber system between homotopic inferior frontal regions supports complex linguistic processing

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Kellmeyer ◽  
Magnus-Sebastian Vry ◽  
Tonio Ball
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
The Body ◽  
Canonical Model ◽  
Stroke Recovery ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Fiber System ◽  
Affective Prosody ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

AbstractInferior frontal regions in the left and right hemisphere support different aspects of language processing. In the canonical model, left inferior frontal regions are mostly involved in processing based on phonological, syntactic and semantic features of language, whereas the right inferior frontal regions process paralinguistic aspects like affective prosody.Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based probabilistic fiber tracking in 20 healthy volunteers, we identify a callosal fiber system connecting left and right inferior frontal regions that are involved in linguistic processing of varying complexity. Anatomically, we show that the interhemispheric fibers are highly aligned and distributed along a rostral to caudal gradient in the body and genu of the corpus callosum to connect homotopic inferior frontal regions.In light of converging data, taking previous DTI-based tracking studies and clinical case studies into account, our findings suggest that the right inferior frontal cortex not only processes paralinguistic aspects of language (such as affective prosody), as purported by the canonical model, but also supports the computation of linguistic aspects of varying complexity in the human brain. Our model may explain patterns of right hemispheric contribution to stroke recovery as well as disorders of prosodic processing. Beyond language-related brain function, we discuss how interspecies differences in interhemispheric connectivity and fiber density, including the system we described here, may also explain differences in transcallosal information transfer and cognitive abilities across different mammalian species.

Role of Anterior and Posterior Attention Networks in Hemispheric Asymmetries during Lexical Decisions

1991 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsuko Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Attention Networks ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Prime Target

The role of the left and right hemisphere was examined during semantic priming by antonyms, remote associates, and unrelated words. Targets presented directly to the left hemisphere showed an early facilitation and a late developing inhibition, while targets presented directly to the right hemisphere showed a late developing facilitation of strong and weak associations and little evidence of inhibition. When a visual cue was given prior to each target word, reaction times were facilitated equally in both visual fields and for all prime target relationships. When the priming task was combined with shadowing, reaction times generally increased and all evidence of inhibition in left hemisphere processing disappeared. This supported the idea that the inhibition found in the left hemisphere was due to its interaction with the anterior attention network.

Cerebral Asymmetry in Facial Affect Perception by Women: Neuropsychological Effects of Depressed Mood

1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1667-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. David Crews ◽  
David W. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Depressed Mood ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Neuropsychological Effects ◽  
Arousal Theory ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
The Right

40 right-handed women, half of whom had been classified with depressed mood and the other half as nondepressed, participated in a tachistoscopic study of the influence of depressed mood on the cerebral hemispheric processing of Ekman and Friesen's 1976 happy, sad, and neutral emotional faces using a forced-choice reaction-time paradigm with only happy and sad alternatives as response manipulanda. The women with depressed mood were also characterized by elevated scores on both state and trait anxiety, suggestive of an anxious-depressive state with heightened arousal. Primary findings for the tachistoscopic data indicated that women with depressed mood as compared to nondepressed women displayed significantly faster reaction times to sad faces presented in the right visual field and happy faces presented in the left visual field. These results are suggestive of differential arousal of both the left and right cerebral hemispheres in this sample of anxious-depressed women and are discussed in light of arousal theory.

scholarly journals Can Tactile Neglect Occur at an Intra-Limb Level? Vibrotactile Reaction Times in Patients with Right Hemisphere Damage

1994 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Mattingley ◽  
J. L. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
The Body ◽  
Right Hemisphere Damage ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Supine Posture ◽  
Visual Reaction ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Tactile Modality ◽  
The Right

Visual reaction time (RT) studies on patients with right hemisphere (RH) damage have demonstrated that the attentional imbalance to stimuli occupying left and right positions exists even within the “intact” ipsilesional hemifield. The purpose of the present study was to test whether such patients might also exhibit relative left-sided impairments in the tactile modality, where stimuli and responses involve the index and middle fingers of the non-hemiplegic ipsilesional hand. Eight patients with RH damage, and eight matched normal controls, were tested using a vibrotactile choice RT paradigm, with the responding hand held in prone or supine posture, and located either at the body midline, or in left or right hemispace. Patients showed significantly slower RTs with the left than the right finger in both hand postures, a difference which remained constant as a function of the hemispatial location of the responding hand. In the prone posture, patients' left finger RTs were slower than those of controls, who showed no difference between left and right finger RTs, while their right finger RTs were faster than those of controls. In the supine posture, both patients and controls exhibited slower left than right finger RTs, though in controls the left finger disadvantage was attributed to biomechanical rather than attentional factors. Patients also made more errors with left than right finger stimuli, both as failures of detection and as incorrect responses, while controls made fewer errors overall and showed no differences between fingers. These data demonstrate a bias in the distribution of attention to tactile stimuli at an intra-limb level, and suggest that the attentional imbalance created by RH damage may be supramodal.

Creativity and Individual Differences in Asymmetric Cerebral Hemispheric Functioning

1983 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert N. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Cognitive Tests ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Cerebral Lateralization ◽  
Intellectual Abilities ◽  
Hemispheric Functioning ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Verbal Functions

In an attempt to see whether one can differentiate the highly creative from those of lesser creativity on the basis of hemispheric processing, 100 people were presented with a battery of creativity tests, control cognitive tests, and tasks known differentially to engage the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Compared to those of lesser creativity, the highly creative participants exhibited a greater tendency habitually to employ the right hemisphere in task solution and a pattern of cerebral lateralization marked by a greater segregation of verbal functions to the left hemisphere and bilateral representation of a nonverbal, melodic function. The success at predicting creativity level on the basis of hemispheric task performance was impressive, and was observed even when general intellectual abilities were equated in the high and low creative groups.

Hemispheric Processing Strategies for Lexical Decisions among Elderly Persons

1992 ◽  
Vol 75 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1275-1280
Author(s):  
Michael P. Rastatter ◽  
Richard A. McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
The Right

Lexical decision vocal reaction times were obtained in 1990 for 30 young adult and 18 elderly subjects to tachistoscopically presented concrete and abstract words by Rastatter and McGuire. The young adults' data suggested differential right-hemispheric processing, while the elderly subjects' data were interpreted as suggesting that the right hemisphere loses its processing function. Here we reinterpret the elderly subjects' data based on visual information-processing theory and suggest that variations in processing strategy account more completely for their data.

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