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| Research article summary (published 30 Dec 2001): |
Sex differences in line bisection as a function of hand.
Full Abstract
If subjects are asked to indicate the midpoint of a horizontal line, they tend to bisect it left of the center, a phenomenon called 'pseudoneglect'. Assuming that this task evokes visuospatial processes, the left bias is generally considered to arise from a right-hemispheric activation. Numerous factors affect pseudoneglect. Although, only few studies have examined the influence of sex in visual line bisection, most of theses studies reported no significant main effect of sex. Possible interactions between sex and other performance factors that are linked to the motor component of this task, e.g. hand use, are rarely examined. We studied the interaction of these two variables using right-handed females and males in a line bisection task. The results clearly indicate that hand use and sex interact, with females showing the left bias to a similar extent with both hands while males show the bias predominantly with the left hand. Moreover, the position of the lines (left, middle and right) significantly affect left bias in visual line bisection and interact with hand use. It is hypothesized that the larger cross-section of the posterior corpus callosum in females enables a stronger interhemispheric connectivity of visuospatial cortical areas resulting in a strong left-sided bias in hand motor cortical areas of both hemispheres. In males, motor cortical activation would accordingly be mainly restricted to the right hemisphere.
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Author information
Author/s: Hausmann, Markus (M); Ergun, Gökce (G); Yazgan, Yanki (Y); Güntürkün, Onur (O);
Affiliation: Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany. markus.hausmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal: Neuropsychologia (Neuropsychologia), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-; vol 40 (issue 3) : pp 235-40
Dates: Created 2001/10/30; Completed 2002/03/20; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 11684155, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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