ABSTRACT VISUAL-FORM REPRESENTATIONS IN THE LEFT CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE

Visual-form systems in the cerebral hemispheres were examined in 3 exp eriments. After learning new types of visual forms, participants rapid ly classified previously unseen prototypes of the newly learned types more efficiently when the forms were presented directly to the left he misphere (in the right visual field) than when the forms were presente d directly to the right hemisphere (in the left visual field). Neither previously seen nor previously unseen distortions of the prototypes w ere classified more efficiently when presented directly to the left he misphere than when presented directly to the right hemisphere. Results indicate that an abstract visual-form system operates effectively in the left hemisphere and stores information that remains relatively inv ariant across the specific instances of a type of farm to distinguish different types. Furthermore, this system functions relatively indepen dently of another system that operates effectively in the right hemisp here and that stores details to distinguish specific instances of a ty pe of form.