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Deborah M Saucier

Publications and source records attributed to Deborah M Saucier.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Lateral differences in visual inspection time? The role of apparent motion cues.

There are a number of reports of a left hemisphere advantage for visual inspection time, but some investigators employing slightly different methodologies have failed to replicate the effect. The present experiment was an attempt to identify one of the factors that could have lead to these discrepant findings: The role of apparent motion cues. In Experiment 1, a lateralized version of the inspection time task was administered via a computer monitor wherein the pi stimulus was masked with a figure vulnerable to apparent motion cues. With this mask, a strong left hemisphere advantage was observed. In Experiments 2 and 3, the test was administered on a tachistoscope or computer monitor, but in both cases the stimulus was masked with a pattern "forest" mask. Under these conditions, there was no lateral difference. This result implies that the left hemisphere advantage for inspection time relies on apparent motion cues.

Adult↗

Free viewing perceptual asymmetries for judgment of brightness and quantity: dependence on stimulus orientation.

Previous research has indicated that normals exhibit strong leftward biases during free-viewing perceptual judgments of brightness and quantity. When participants view two symmetrical objects and they are forced to choose which object appears darker or more numerous, participants usually select the stimulus with the relevant feature on the left side. The present study investigated the possibility that these perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning a stimulus horizontally across the midline by administering a task with two rectangular reversed stimuli presented either horizontally or vertically. When the stimuli were presented horizontally (crossing the midline), participants exhibited leftward biases, but these biases disappeared when the stimuli were presented vertically. This result supports the position that free-viewing perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning the stimuli across the midline.

Adolescent↗

Laterality of phonological working memory: dependence on type of stimulus, memory load, and sex.

Investigations of the laterality of phonological working memory have not always yielded consistent results. The present experiment investigated working memory for letters and numbers in two memory load conditions. In the low load condition, working memory for letters and numbers was similar. However, in the high load condition, males were more accurate at the recall of letters. This effect was not observed with numbers, in which both sexes performed more poorly. Furthermore, we observed consistent RVF advantages for both tasks, although males were more asymmetrical for the recall of letters and females were more asymmetrical for the recall of numbers. This result indicates that laterality of working memory for letters and numbers differs, and these asymmetries depend upon the sex of the participant.

Adult↗