Shift of visual field advantage by learning experience of foreign words.

Effects of Hebrew words learning on visual field advantage were examined with Japanese subjects. Subjects who showed no visual field advantage to Hebrew words in the first testing were assigned randomly into four experimental groups; learn pronunciation only, learn meaning only, learn both pronunciation and meaning, and learn nothing. After then, subjects were re-tested for Hebrew words discrimination. A right visual field advantage appeared in both pronunciation only and pronunciation plus meaning groups. These results suggest that mastery of pronunciation seems to be a crucial factor in producing a shift of visual field advantage.