Cerebral lateralization: relation to subject's sex.

Patterns of reflective LEM's have been correlated to a number of cognitive and personality variables, bu the relationship to sex, education, and mental illness is unclear. In this study females produced significantly more R-LEM overall indicating a preferential use of left hemisphere mechanisms when they initiate reflective thought. Females also produced more R-LEM for verbal nonemotional material, suggesting stronger lateralization of language abilities to their left hemisphere. Emotional and spatial stimuli were less well lateralized to the right hemisphere in females, and education was an unimportant variable for both sexes. Schizophrenia was independently associated with increases in total R-LEM indicating increased left hemisphere activity in this group.