"Hemispheric Differences in Semantic Priming Examined Across Handedness" by Andrea M. Coppens

Date of Award

2010

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Psychology

Keywords

Psychology, Clinical.

Supervisor

Abeare, Christopher (Psychology)

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

The present study investigates hemispheric differences in semantic priming across handedness groups. A lexical decision task was administered to 87 individuals, classified into handedness groups: consistent right-handers; consistent left-handers; and inconsistent-handers. Participants were presented with strongly- and nonassociated category members in a visual half-field semantic priming task. The hypothesis was that the dominant hemisphere would have an advantage for strongly-associated category members, and the nondominant hemisphere would have an advantage for nonassociated category members. This effect was expected to be determined by handedness, where consistent right-handers have left-hemisphere language dominance, consistent left-handers have right-hemisphere dominance, and inconsistent-handers have no hemispheric dominance. Although the expected interaction was not found, effects of SOA, word association, and visual field were consistent with previous findings. When handedness was re-classified by stated handedness, there was an association between handedness and visual field. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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