LATERALIZATION OF SEMANTIC FACILITATION AND INHIBITION

本研究的主要目的是调查，在 正常大脑，即负责语义功能的半球，可能 在思维障碍中受损。 拟议的研究将使用 视觉半视野刺激研究语义促进 以及大脑左右半球的抑制过程 正常的个体。 主要假设是， 大脑半球以聚焦的方式处理意义， 相关的含义，并禁止那些被认为不相关的，而 右半球维持对一组 语义相关的意义，没有抑制。 的作用 语义加工的注意选择性 将在三个系列实验中检查半球。 在 系列1，词汇启动范式将被用来研究 语义期望在语义抑制中的作用 和便利化。 在系列2中，“负启动”范式将 用于研究促进和抑制过程 当两个同时出现的单词之一是 视觉注意力的焦点。 在系列3中，语义促进和 在高阶认知任务中检查抑制， 需要对意义进行判断。 据预测，语义 两个大脑半球都会发生促进作用，但是， 依赖于注意力选择的抑制过程， 仅限于左半球。 重要的是要 了解这些功能的神经基础，因为 语义促进的正常相互作用的中断， 抑制可产生一些精神分裂症症状（例如，宽松 协会）。

The major objective of this research is to investigate, in the normal brain, the hemispheric for semantic functions which may be impaired in thought disorders. The proposed studies will use visual half-field stimulation to investigate semantic facilitation and inhibition processes in the left and right hemispheres of normal individuals. The primary hypothesis is that the left hemisphere processes meaning in a focal manner, by facilitating relevant meanings and inhibiting those deemed irrelevant, while the right hemisphere maintains facilitation for a set of semantically related meanings without inhibition. The role of attentional selectivity in semantic processing in each cerebral hemisphere will be examined in three series of experiments. In Series 1, lexical priming paradigms will be used to investigate the role of semantic expectancies in producing semantic inhibition and facilitation. In Series 2, the "negative priming" paradigm will be used to investigate facilitatory and inhibitory processes produced when one of two simultaneously presented words is the focus of visual attention. In Series 3, semantic facilitation and inhibition are examined in higher order cognitive tasks which required judgments of meaning. It is predicted that semantic facilitation will occur in both cerebral hemispheres, but that inhibitory processes, which depend upon attentional selection, will be restricted to the left hemisphere. It is important to understand the neurological basis of these functions, since breakdowns in the normal interplay of semantic facilitation and inhibition could produce some schizophrenic symptoms (e.g., loose associations).