Bilateral visual field processing and evoked potential interhemispheric transmission time

Abstract

The relationship between the efficiency of interhemispheric interactions via the corpus callosum and the speed and accuracy in making comparisons of information simultaneously presented to the right and left visual fields was studied by comparing bilateral (vs unilateral) advantages in matching letters, with evoked potential measures of interhemispheric transmission time (EP-IHTT). The primary finding was a strong correlation suggesting that larger bilateral field advantages in reaction time are associated with faster EP-IHTT. However, the association between EP-IHTT and bilateral advantage was strong only for transmission speed from left hemisphere to right hemisphere, but not for speed of transmission in the opposite direction. The data are consistent with a hypothesis of asymmetric homologue enhancement, i.e. a directionally asymmetric callosal influence which facilitates processing of letter stimuli in the right hemisphere allowing for increased response speed and accuracy of bilateral visual field comparisons.