Relative Attensity of Stimuli in Left and Right Visual Hemifields 1

Abstract

This study tested the neurological hypothesis which Dallenbach (1923) proposed to explain the differences in attensity for visual stimuli presented to the right and left of ocular fixation. The result predicted by Dallenbach, of greater attensity on the side opposite the preferred hand, was not obtained. Differences in attensity which were consistently reported by several Os but which were idiosyncratic in direction were explained in terms of attention. This study also determined whether O's perception of relative attensity to the left and right of fixation or other overt characteristics of laterality were correlated with perceptual accuracy to the left and right. Since all Os reproduced the elements of tachistoscopic patterns to the left of fixation more accurately, this study provides additional evidence against the hypothesis of lateral dominance, in terms of a stable ‘structural’ difference, as the determinant of hemifield differences in the perception of visual patterns of multiple elements.