Jager Gerry, Postma Albert
Psychological Laboratory, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Neuropsychologia. 2003;41(4):504-15. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00086-6.
This article reviews current evidence on the hemispheric specialization hypothesis for two types of spatial relations representations; categorical versus coordinate [Psychol. Rev. 94 (1987) 148; J. Exp. Psychol.: Percept. Perform. 15 (1989) 723]. Categorical representations capture general properties of the spatial structure of a visual stimulus, without defining the exact metric properties. Coordinate representations specify precise spatial locations of objects or parts in terms of metric units. It is claimed that a hemispheric difference in contribution to the computation of both types of spatial relations representations exists, in which the left hemisphere is specialized for the computation of categorical spatial representations while the right hemisphere is specialized for the computation of coordinate ones. Several forms of research (experimental, computer simulations, patient studies and neuroimaging studies) are reviewed. In general, there is convergent evidence for a conceptual separation of coordinate and categorical processing, with strongest indications for a relative right hemisphere advantage in encoding coordinate spatial relations, and weaker support for left hemispheric categorical specialization. The pattern appears to be critically linked to receptive field properties of the two hemispheres and as such is modulated by certain elementary visual characteristics of the displayed stimuli.
本文回顾了关于两种空间关系表征（类别性与坐标性）的半球特化假说的当前证据[《心理学评论》94 (1987) 148；《实验心理学杂志：感知与表现》15 (1989) 723]。类别性表征捕捉视觉刺激空间结构的一般属性，而不定义确切的度量属性。坐标性表征根据度量单位指定物体或部分的精确空间位置。据称，在对这两种空间关系表征的计算贡献方面存在半球差异，其中左半球专门用于类别性空间表征的计算，而右半球专门用于坐标性空间表征的计算。本文回顾了几种研究形式（实验、计算机模拟、患者研究和神经成像研究）。总体而言，有趋同的证据表明坐标性和类别性加工在概念上是分离的，最有力的迹象表明右半球在编码坐标性空间关系方面具有相对优势，而对左半球类别性特化的支持较弱。这种模式似乎与两个半球的感受野特性密切相关，因此受到所显示刺激的某些基本视觉特征的调节。
