Lateral Dominance in Tachistoscopic word Recognitions of Children at Two Levels of Ability

Abstract

Monocular tachistoscopic word recognition performance as a function of word placement to the right or left of fixation was studied in 20 seventh grade children. Half the subjects possessed normal reading skills, while the other half read at a third grade level. Words directed to the left cerebral hemisphere (right field words) were recognized significantly more often ( P < 0.005) in both groups than words channelled to the right hemisphere. The result supports the view that right field recognition superiority reflects the language specialization of the left hemisphere rather than “training” of the left hemiretinae through the acquisition of reading proficiency.