The Brain Asymmetry Laboratory

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Introduction

Researchers have discovered that the right half of the brain is responsible for spatial relations and creativity, while the left side is responsible for language and thought (Bisiacchi & Cainelli, 2022). The investigators motivation was to determine whether existing myths about hemispheres are relevant. The purpose of this experiment is to determine if there is a difference in how a stimulus is perceived in the right and left visual fields based on the participants dominant hand. The investigator expected that a right-handed persons hit rate would be higher for words presented in the right visual field compared to the left, but the false alarm rate would be lower in the right visual field. Since the left brain controls reasoning, I also foresee that right-handed people will have an advantage.

Methods

  • Words were used as stimuli. New and old words were shown with right and left fixation. A person had to determine whether he/she saw words or not.
  • A rectangle will display a list of words in rapid succession, and one will be asked whether or not he or she has seen any of them before. For previously shown words, select old, and for newly presented words, select new.
  • The eyes should not wander from a designated fixation point.
  • 56 trials presented to the right and left fixations

Results

There were 71 right-handed college students as participants. Summary statistics were done by mean and standard deviations. In 71 participants, the mean-based data for the left visual field hit rate was 0.833, and for the right visual field hit rate for 71 participants was 0.500. On the other hand, the standard deviation data based on 71 participants false alarm rate of the left visual field was 0.188, and the right visual field hit rate was 0.062.

Conclusions

My hypothesis was not supported by the results. Even though I am right-handed, I found that my hit rate was greater in the left visual area than in the right, contrary to my expectations. However, I would argue that it does represent brain asymmetry for right-handers. That left-handed people tend to be more knowledgeable, while righties are viewed as more creative is a common perception. In real life, knowledge of the dominant brain hemisphere might help to perform specific tasks better. The follow-up experiment can focus on finding differences in understanding meanings by the brain parts by showing words and asking to classify them.

Reference

Bisiacchi, P., & Cainelli, E. (2022). Structural and functional brain asymmetries in the early phases of life: a scoping review. Brain Structure and Function, 227(2), 479-496. Web.

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