FORM-SPECIFIC VISUAL PRIMING FOR NEW ASSOCIATIONS IN THE RIGHT CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE

In three experiments, we examined the internal processing mechanisms o f relatively independent visual-form subsystems. Participants first vi ewed centrally presented word pairs and then completed word stems pres ented beneath context words in the left or right visual field. Letter- case-specific priming in stem completion was found only when the conte xt word was the same word that had previously appeared above the prime d completion word and the items were presented directly to the right c erebral hemisphere. This pattern of results was not found when partici pants deliberately recollected previously presented words when complet ing the stems. Results suggest that holistic processing, not parts-bas ed processing as assumed in many contemporary theories of visual-form recognition, is performed in a subsystem that distinguishes specific i nstances in the same abstract category of form and that operates more effectively in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere.