Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 1994-6
Cross-Cultural Effects on Hemispheric Specialization Reflected on a Task Requiring Spatial Discrimination of the Thumb by Japanese and American Students 1,2
Difference limens and constant errors were obtained by the method of constant stimuli on a task requiring discrimination of the thumb's spatial position for 26 Japanese (13 male and 13 female) and 26 American (13 male and 13 female) college students. The left thumbs of Japanese and American subjects exhibited smaller difference limens, suggesting that both groups show the same hemispheric specialization of spatial perception. Japanese subjects showed smaller difference limens, but no sex difference was observed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BradshawJ. L., BradshawJ. A., and NettletonN. C. (1989) Direction and location of movement in kinesthetic judgements of extent.Neuropsycbologia, 27, 1139–1151.
2.
BradshawJ. L., NettletonN. C., NathanG., and WilsonL. (1983) Hand and body space to left and right, front and rear: II. Visuotactual and kinesthetic studies and left-side underestimation.Neuropsycbologia, 21, 475–486.
3.
CohenH., LevyJ. J., and McShaneD. (1989) Hemispheric specialization for speech and non-verbal stimuli in Chinese and French Canadian subjects.Neuropsychologia, 27, 241–245.
4.
EndoM., ShimizuA., and HoriT. (1978) Functional asymmetry of visual fields for Japanese words in Kana (syllable-based) writing and random shape-recognition in Japanese subjects.Neuropsychologia, 16, 291–297.
GalanterE. (1962). New directions in psychology.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Pp. 87–156.
7.
GoodglassM., and BartonM. (1963) Handedness and differential perception of verbal stimuli in left and right visual fields.Perceptual and Motor Skills, 17, 851–854.
8.
HattaT. (1977) Lateral recognition of abstract and concrete Kanji in Japanese.Perceptual and Motor Skills, 45, 731–734.
9.
HattaT. (1979) Differences in laterality for recognition of nonverbal material by Japanese and English subjects.Perceptual and Motor Skills, 48, 917–918.
10.
HattaT., and DimondS. (1980) Comparison of lateral differences for digit and random form recognition in Japanese and Westerners.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 6, 368–374.
11.
HattaT., and NachshonI. (1986) Lateral differences in digit and nonsense form recognition among Japanese and Israeli subjects.International Journal of Psychology, 21, 1–17.
12.
LeeG. P., SasanumaS., HamsherK. de S., & BentonA. L. (1991) Constructional praxis performance of Japanese and American, normal and brain-damaged patients.Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 6, 15–25.
13.
McKeeverW. F., and HulingM. D. (1971) Lateral dominance in tachistoscopic word recognition performances obtained with simultaneous bilateral input.Neuropsychologia, 9, 15–20.
14.
MecacciL. (1981) Brain and socio-cultural environment.Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 4, 319–327.
15.
MecacciL. (1984) Looking for the social and cultural dimension of the human brain.International Journal of Psychophysiology, 1, 293–299.
16.
MossE. M., DavidsonR. J., and SaronC. (1985) Cross-cultural differences in hemisphericity: EEG asymmetry discriminates between Japanese and Westerners.Neuropsychologia, 23, 131–135.
17.
NishizawaS. (1991) Different pattern of hemisphere specialization between identical kinesthetic spatial and weight discrimination tasks.Neuropsychologia, 29, 305–312.
18.
NishizawaS., and SaslowC. A. (1987) Lateralization of kinesthetically guided spatial perception.Cortex, 23, 485–494.
19.
RoyE. A., and MacKenzieC. (1978) Handedness effect in kinesthetic spatial location judgements.Cortex, 14, 250–258.
20.
SasanumaS., ItohM., MoriK., and KobayashiY. (1977) Tachistoscopic recognition of Kana and Kanji words.Neuropsychologia, 15, 547–553.
21.
TzengO. J. L., HungD. L., CottonB., & WangW. S-Y. (1979) Visual lateralization effect in reading Chinese characters.Nature, 282, 499–501.
22.
Van LanckerD., FromkinV. A. (1973) Hemispheric specialization for pitch and “tone”: evidence from Thai.Journal of Phonetics, 1, 101–109.
