Pseudoneglect on a Cancellation Task

Abstract

The "pseudoneglect" phenomenon initially described by Bowers and Heilman (1980) was examined in the context of a cancellation task. Normal subjects were administered cancellation tasks under a high arousal condition with target and foils which were intended to activate left hemisphere (verbal) processes or right hemisphere (spatial) processes. Significant right lateralized inattention was present on the spatial stimuli. The verbal stimuli failed to produce significant lateralized inattention, although it produced moderate left inattention among right-handed males. The results are consistent with literature identifying the right hemisphere as dominant for attention.