Effect of altered central and peripheral visual field stimulation on correct recognition and visual evoked response.

Hemispheric asymmetry was assessed using combined electrophysiological (visual evoked response) and behavioral (percentage-correct-recognition) techniques. Right-handed, right-eyed, male undergraduates who viewed tachistoscopically exposed CVCs and random shapes in both central and peripheral visual fields were scored for their ability to recognize the stimuli correctly. Latency and amplitude of visual evoked responses were compared with correct recognition. Central and peripheral stimuli produced significant results. Superiority of the left hemisphere for verbal stimulus processing was supported. Small but consistent positive peak latencies of visual evoked responses also indicated language specialization of the left lobe. Results were interpreted as supporting hemispheric functional asymmetry. Additional findings of "cognitive masking" and marked reduction in intersubject variance in postive peak latencies of visual evoked responses by a central stimulus occurring at approximately 300 msec were also obtained. Mechanisms of iconic image storage, neuropsychological attentional theories, and differential hemispheric structural organization were discussed in interpreting results.