HEMISPHERIC-SPECIALIZATION AND MEMORY FOR WORDS - EFFECT OF IMAGERY VALUE

The performances ot two groups of right-handed adult subjects were compared in a visual hemifield tachistoscopic study involving the memorization ot a list of 16 monosyllabic three-letter substantives, varying in rated imagery. One groupe was given a free-recall task, and the other a recognition task. The results show a higher performance in recognition than in free recall, and a better memorization for high-imagery words, but no visual-hemifield advantage. A hemifield x imagery interaction effect is also observed, but this effect appears only with the recognition task. These results are discussed in terms of functional hemispheric specialization in processing images elicited by written words, in tasks involving their memorization. They suggest that the right cerebral hemisphere could perform a double processing resulting in the encoding of two kinds ot images available in a recognition tasks : a << graphemic >> image based on the visual (formal) properties of the written stimulus, and a << representative >> image more easily called up by high-imagery words.