Effect of temporal constraints on hemispheric asymmetries during spatial frequency processing.

Full Abstract

Studies on functional hemispheric asymmetries have suggested that the right vs. left hemisphere should be predominantly involved in low vs. high spatial frequency (SF) analysis, respectively. By manipulating exposure duration of filtered natural scene images, we examined whether the temporal characteristics of SF analysis (i.e., the temporal precedence of low on high spatial frequencies) may interfere with hemispheric specialization. Results showed the classical hemispheric specialization pattern for brief exposure duration and a trend to a right hemisphere advantage irrespective of the SF content for longer exposure duration. The present study suggests that the hemispheric specialization pattern for visual information processing should be considered as a dynamic system, wherein the superiority of one hemisphere over the other could change according to the level of temporal constraints: the higher the temporal constraints of the task, the more the hemispheres are specialized in SF processing.

Author information

Author/s: Peyrin, Carole (C); Mermillod, Martial (M); Chokron, Sylvie (S); Marendaz, Christian (C);

Affiliation: INSERM U455, Hopital Purpan, Toulouse, France. carole.peyrin(-atsign-)upmf-grenoble.fr

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Brain and cognition (Brain Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Dec; vol 62 (issue 3) : pp 214-20

Dates: Created 2006/11/13; Completed 2007/01/11;

PMID: 16837115, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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