Responding to threat: Hemispheric asymmetries and interhemispheric division of input

This investigation examined how hemispheric asymmetry and interhemispheric processing contribute to attentional biases toward emotional information. P articipants (n = 88) named the color of lateralized squares presented concu rrently with neutral, positive, or threatening words. A left-hemisphere adv antage in color naming was reduced when distracters were emotional, suggest ing right-hemisphere priming by emotional stimuli. Furthermore, the advanta ge of dividing the word and color across visual fields was increased for em otion words when they were frequently presented, indicating a strategic use of interhemispheric division of labor to reduce the distracting effect of emotional words. Finally, participants with high levels of anxious apprehen sion were most likely to make use of this interhemispheric processing strat egy, supporting a processing efficiency theory of cognitive function in anx iety.