Right hemispheric dominance and interhemispheric cooperation in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention

• Published in: Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 97 - 104
• Main Authors: Okada, Takashi, Sato, Wataru, Kubota, Yasutaka, Toichi, Motomi, Murai, Toshiya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne, Australia Blackwell Publishing Asia 01.03.2012; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiology; Cerebral hemispheres; Cooperation; Cues; Dominance; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Eye Movements - physiology; Female; gaze; Hemispheric laterality; Humans; interhemispheric cooperation; Male; Medical sciences; Photic Stimulation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reaction Time - physiology; right hemispheric dominance; unilateral visual field presentation; visual field; Visual Fields - physiology; unilateral visual field presentation; Gaze; Visual field; Central nervous system; Attention; right hemispheric dominance; Cognition; interhemispheric cooperation; Encephalon; Hemisphere dominance; Vision; Perception; Laterality; Interhemispheric transfer
• ISSN: 1323-1316; 1440-1819; 1440-1819
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2011.02302.x

Aims:  The neural substrate for the processing of gaze remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to clarify which hemisphere dominantly processes and whether bilateral hemispheres cooperate with each other in gaze‐triggered reflexive shift of attention. Methods:  Twenty‐eight normal subjects were tested. The non‐predictive gaze cues were presented either in unilateral or bilateral visual fields. The subjects localized the target as soon as possible. Results:  Reaction times (RT) were shorter when gaze‐cues were congruent toward than away from targets, whichever visual field they were presented in. RT were shorter in left than right visual field presentations. RT in mono‐directional bilateral presentations were shorter than both of those in left and right presentations. When bi‐directional bilateral cues were presented, RT were faster when valid cues were presented in the left than right visual fields. Conclusion:  The right hemisphere appears to be dominant, and there is interhemispheric cooperation in gaze‐triggered reflexive shift of attention.