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Language lateralisation measured across linguistic and national boundaries

Hausmann, M.; Brysbaert, M.; Van der Haegen, L.; Lewald, J.; Specht, K.; Hirnstein, M.; Willemin, J.; Barton, J.; Buchilly, D.; Chmetz, F.; Roch, M.; Brederoo, S.; Dael, N.; Mohr, C.

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Authors

M. Brysbaert

L. Van der Haegen

J. Lewald

K. Specht

M. Hirnstein

J. Willemin

J. Barton

D. Buchilly

F. Chmetz

M. Roch

S. Brederoo

N. Dael

C. Mohr



Abstract

The visual half-field technique has been shown to be a reliable and valid neuropsychological measurement of language lateralisation, typically showing higher accuracy and faster correct responses for linguistic stimuli presented in the right visual field (RVF) than left visual field (LVF). The RVF advantage corresponds to the well-known dominance of the left hemisphere (LH) in processing language(s). However, clinical and experimental neuroscientists around the globe use different variations of the visual half-field paradigm, making direct comparisons difficult. The current study used a word/non-word visual half-field paradigm with translingual stimuli. In total, 496 participants from seven European countries were investigated: Belgium (64), England (49), Germany (85), Italy (34), The Netherlands (87), Norway (51), and Switzerland (126), covering six international languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian). All language groups revealed a significant RVF/LH advantage in accuracy and reaction times that accounted for up to 26.1% of the total variance in performance. We found some variation in the degree of the RVF/LH advantage across language groups, accounting for a maximum of 3.7% of the total variance in performance. The RVF/LH advantage did not differ between subsamples speaking English, French or German as first or second languages or between monolingual and early/late bi/multilinguals. The findings suggest that the translingual lexical decision task (TLDT) is a simple but reliable measurement of language lateralisation that can be applied clinically and experimentally across linguistic and national boundaries.

Citation

Hausmann, M., Brysbaert, M., Van der Haegen, L., Lewald, J., Specht, K., Hirnstein, M., …Mohr, C. (2019). Language lateralisation measured across linguistic and national boundaries. Cortex, 111, 134-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.020

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 22, 2018
Online Publication Date Nov 3, 2018
Publication Date Feb 1, 2019
Deposit Date Oct 22, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Cortex
Print ISSN 0010-9452
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 111
Pages 134-147
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.020

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