Hemisperic facilitation as a result of threathening and nonthreathening words: Blocked versus mixed presentation effects and order effects.

J.W. van Strien, M.W. Luijpen

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Sixteen right-handed participants (eight male and eight female students) were administered a tachistoscopic unilateral letter-naming task. The design contained three valance conditions and two types of presentation. In baseline conditions no concurrent task was given. In threat and nonthreat conditions, each unilateral stimulus was preceded by a threatening or nonthreatening word in central vision. Participants were instructed to recall this word after reporting the unilateral letter string. With blocked presentations, a series of trials had the same emotional valence (threatening or nonthreatening), whereas with mixed presentations the valences were alternating within a series. Analysis of order effects for the blocked presentations revealed sustained effects of the initial block valence on visual field asymmetries. The sustained effect of the initial threatening block was a reduction of the right visual-field advantage. Mixed presentations resulted in a enhanced right visual-field advantage following the presentation of threatening information and an enhanced left visual-field advantage following the presentation of nonthreatening information. The research suggests that tonic and phasic reactions to emotional stimuli may affect visual field asymmetry in different ways.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)617-621
Number of pages5
JournalNeuropsychologia
Volume37
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hemisperic facilitation as a result of threathening and nonthreathening words: Blocked versus mixed presentation effects and order effects.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this