HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION FOR HAPTIC PERCEPTION: THE ROLE OF TASK DEMAND.
Item
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Title
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HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION FOR HAPTIC PERCEPTION: THE ROLE OF TASK DEMAND.
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Identifier
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AAI8203341
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identifier
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8203341
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Creator
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WEINSTEIN, PEARL ANNE.
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Contributor
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TINA MOREAU
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Physiological
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Abstract
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The present study investigated the role of level of task demand in literalized processing of tactuo-spatial stimuli. More specifically, this study examined lateral differences in accuracy and reaction time for matching braille-like tactual patterns under three conditions shown by Posner and Mitchell (1967) to constitute a cognitive hierarchy: Configurational Matching, Semantic Matching and Categorical Matching.;The subjects were 48 right handed college women who were assigned to three equal-size groups. The stimuli were eight different dot patterns with each two patterns given the same name (two patterns each for "Red," "Blue," "Day" and "Night"). The stimuli were paired and were delivered automatically to the left or right index fingers in a quasi-randomized order, and subjects made a judgment of "same" or "different" to each pair. Subjects in the Configurational Group were naive to the pattern names and were instructed to judge two stimuli the same when they felt identical. Subjects in the other two groups were taught the names of the patterns prior to the matching task. Then, subjects in the Semantic Group were instructed to judge two stimuli the same when they meant the same thing. Subjects in the Categorical Group were instructed to judge two stimuli the same when their meanings fell into the same hierarchical category. Subjects responded by depressing foot pedals for "same" and "different" judgments.;Data were subjected to two 4-way analyses of variance, one for reaction time and one for accuracy. The results of the reaction time analysis showed significant differences among the groups: the Configurational Group showed the fastest reaction time, the Semantic Group responded more slowly and the Categorical Group was slowest. There was a significant interaction between Hand and Group: the response to left hand stimuli was faster than to right hand stimuli in the Configurational Group, and the response to right hand stimuli was faster than to left hand stimuli in the Categorical Group. There was no lateral difference in reaction time in the Semantic Group. There were no significant main effects for hand or for responding foot, but, for subjects in the Semantic Group, the reaction time was faster for the hand which was spatially compatible with the foot designated to respond "same." "Same" judgments were faster than "different" judgments, an effect especially marked in the Semantic Group. The only significant effect noted on the basis of the analysis of errors was a difference among the groups: subjects in the Configurational Group made significantly fewer errors than subjects in the Semantic and Categorical Groups, which did not differ from each other.;The results are discussed in terms of hemispheric asymmetries for cognitive processing. For right handed women, tactual configurational processing appears to be best performed by the right cerebral hemisphere. Tactual configurational tasks which require verbal categorical processing appear to be best performed by the left cerebral hemisphere.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
