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A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions.
Behav Brain Funct. 2012 Mar 20; 8:14.BB

Abstract

BACKGROUND

During normal semantic processing, the left hemisphere (LH) is suggested to restrict right hemisphere (RH) performance via interhemispheric suppression. However, a lesion in the LH or the use of concurrent tasks to overload the LH's attentional resource balance has been reported to result in RH disinhibition with subsequent improvements in RH performance. The current study examines variations in RH semantic processing in the context of unilateral LH lesions and the manipulation of the interhemispheric processing resource balance, in order to explore the relevance of RH disinhibition to hemispheric contributions to semantic processing following a unilateral LH lesion.

METHODS

RH disinhibition was examined for nine participants with a single LH lesion and 13 matched controls using the dual task paradigm. Hemispheric performance on a divided visual field lexical decision semantic priming task was compared over three verbal memory load conditions, of zero-, two- and six-words. Related stimuli consisted of categorically related, associatively related, and categorically and associatively related prime-target pairs. Response time and accuracy data were recorded and analyzed using linear mixed model analysis, and planned contrasts were performed to compare priming effects in both visual fields, for each of the memory load conditions.

RESULTS

Control participants exhibited significant bilateral visual field priming for all related conditions (p < .05), and a LH advantage over all three memory load conditions. Participants with LH lesions exhibited an improvement in RH priming performance as memory load increased, with priming for the categorically related condition occurring only in the 2- and 6-word memory conditions. RH disinhibition was also reflected for the LH damage (LHD) group by the removal of the LH performance advantage following the introduction of the memory load conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The results from the control group are consistent with suggestions of an age related hemispheric asymmetry reduction and indicate that in healthy aging compensatory bilateral activation may reduce the impact of inhibition. In comparison, the results for the LHD group indicate that following a LH lesion RH semantic processing can be manipulated and enhanced by the introduction of a verbal memory task designed to engage LH resources and allow disinhibition of RH processing.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Smith-Conway ER
The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. e.conway@uq.edu.au
Chenery HJ
No affiliation info available
Angwin AJ
No affiliation info available
Copland DA
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AdultAgedAssociation LearningCerebral CortexCerebral InfarctionFemaleFunctional LateralityHumansMaleMemoryMiddle AgedNeural InhibitionPhotic StimulationReaction TimeRepetition PrimingSemanticsVerbal LearningVisual Fields

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22429687

Citation

Smith-Conway, Erin R., et al. "A Dual Task Priming Investigation of Right Hemisphere Inhibition for People With Left Hemisphere Lesions." Behavioral and Brain Functions : BBF, vol. 8, 2012, p. 14.
Smith-Conway ER, Chenery HJ, Angwin AJ, et al. A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions. Behav Brain Funct. 2012;8:14.
Smith-Conway, E. R., Chenery, H. J., Angwin, A. J., & Copland, D. A. (2012). A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions. Behavioral and Brain Functions : BBF, 8, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-8-14
Smith-Conway ER, et al. A Dual Task Priming Investigation of Right Hemisphere Inhibition for People With Left Hemisphere Lesions. Behav Brain Funct. 2012 Mar 20;8:14. PubMed PMID: 22429687.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions. AU - Smith-Conway,Erin R, AU - Chenery,Helen J, AU - Angwin,Anthony J, AU - Copland,David A, Y1 - 2012/03/20/ PY - 2011/09/20/received PY - 2012/03/20/accepted PY - 2012/3/21/entrez PY - 2012/3/21/pubmed PY - 2012/10/26/medline SP - 14 EP - 14 JF - Behavioral and brain functions : BBF JO - Behav Brain Funct VL - 8 N2 - BACKGROUND: During normal semantic processing, the left hemisphere (LH) is suggested to restrict right hemisphere (RH) performance via interhemispheric suppression. However, a lesion in the LH or the use of concurrent tasks to overload the LH's attentional resource balance has been reported to result in RH disinhibition with subsequent improvements in RH performance. The current study examines variations in RH semantic processing in the context of unilateral LH lesions and the manipulation of the interhemispheric processing resource balance, in order to explore the relevance of RH disinhibition to hemispheric contributions to semantic processing following a unilateral LH lesion. METHODS: RH disinhibition was examined for nine participants with a single LH lesion and 13 matched controls using the dual task paradigm. Hemispheric performance on a divided visual field lexical decision semantic priming task was compared over three verbal memory load conditions, of zero-, two- and six-words. Related stimuli consisted of categorically related, associatively related, and categorically and associatively related prime-target pairs. Response time and accuracy data were recorded and analyzed using linear mixed model analysis, and planned contrasts were performed to compare priming effects in both visual fields, for each of the memory load conditions. RESULTS: Control participants exhibited significant bilateral visual field priming for all related conditions (p < .05), and a LH advantage over all three memory load conditions. Participants with LH lesions exhibited an improvement in RH priming performance as memory load increased, with priming for the categorically related condition occurring only in the 2- and 6-word memory conditions. RH disinhibition was also reflected for the LH damage (LHD) group by the removal of the LH performance advantage following the introduction of the memory load conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the control group are consistent with suggestions of an age related hemispheric asymmetry reduction and indicate that in healthy aging compensatory bilateral activation may reduce the impact of inhibition. In comparison, the results for the LHD group indicate that following a LH lesion RH semantic processing can be manipulated and enhanced by the introduction of a verbal memory task designed to engage LH resources and allow disinhibition of RH processing. SN - 1744-9081 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/22429687/A_dual_task_priming_investigation_of_right_hemisphere_inhibition_for_people_with_left_hemisphere_lesions_ L2 - https://behavioralandbrainfunctions.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-9081-8-14 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -