Selective Lateralization of Cognitive Style Related to Occupation as Determined by EEG Alpha Asymmetry

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study reports a frequency analysis of hemispheric EEG asymmetries in 14 right‐handed male subjects performing two cognitive tasks. Eight of the subjects were Presidents or Chief Operating Officers of large corporations and the 6 remaining subjects were Operations Researchers. For the Operations Researchers, language and analytic tasks were expected to engage primarily the left hemisphere; spatial and intuitive tasks were expected to engage primarily the right hemisphere, consistent with earlier findings with normal subjects. The Presidents were expected to engage primarily the right hemisphere independent of cognitive task. Recordings from temporal leads (T 3 , T 4 ) referred to the vertex C Z were subjected to discrete Fourier transforms; ratios of power from homologous leads (T 4 /T 3 ) were computed in the alpha band. The results support the expectation of different responses between the two occupational groups. The lack of communication and understanding between the two occupational groups and the general lack of utilization and implementation of operations research by corporations may he inferred to be partially related to these differences.