TACTILE ROD BISECTION - HEMISPHERIC ACTIVATION AND SEX-DIFFERENCES

Blindfolded subjects estimated with either hand the center of rods pos itioned in either left or right hemispace. In one condition, they also performed a concurrent verbal task. Bias and variability of bisection settings were the dependent variables. Bisections performed in left h emispace were biased to the left of true center, more so when the left hand was used. In contrast, bisections performed in right hemispace w ere biased rightward, more so when the right hand was used. There were no significant differences in variability of bisections in any condit ion. Interactions of hand with hemispace in which the task was perform ed differed for the two sexes. Moreover, the secondary verbal task had no effect on either measure. We conclude that of several factors that may underlie bisection biases, attention was the most relevant. Copyr ight (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.