Elsevier

Brain and Language

Volume 8, Issue 2, September 1979, Pages 184-190
Brain and Language

Shift of visual field preference for English words in native Hebrew speakers

https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934X(79)90048-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Lateralization for visual verbal material was tested with Hebrew and English stimuli presented to Israeli adolescents in their second, fourth, and sixth years of study of English as a second language. Seventy-two children, 12 male and 12 female subjects in each class, were tested by means of a target-word recognition task. Laterality scores derived from reaction-time measures resulted in: (1) a left visual field preference for the English stimuli in the youngest group which decreased with increasing age, becoming a right visual field preference in the oldest group, and (2) a significant and equal right visual field preference for Hebrew stimuli for all groups. The data suggest right hemisphere involvement in acquiring the reading skills of a new language.

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