Event-related potentials and reaction times as measures of hemispheric differences for physical and semantic Kanji matching.

Hemispheric differences associated with Physical Identity Matching and Semantic Classification of Japanese characters (Kanji) were examined using visual event-related potentials and behavioural measures. Event-related potentials to the Kanji during matching tasks revealed hemispheric differences in the later components. Right hemisphere responses were larger than those or the left. The interaction of Types of Matches by Hemispheres was not significant. This interaction however was significant with the behavioural measure. On Semantic Classification Matching reaction times for right-visual-field Kanji were faster than those of the left field while no visual field difference was found for Physical Identity Matching. The sensitivity of both measures as indicators of laterality is discussed from the point of view of levels of processing.