Sex and coding strategy effects on reaction time to hemispheric probes

Abstract
The influence of coding instructions on cerebral laterality differences was investigated. The 1st experiment required 20 subjects [Ss] (10 female) to use either rehearsal or imagery coding strategies in a recognition task with word probes to the right and left hemispheres. No hemispheric differences were found, but sex of S was related to coding strategy. In the 2nd experiment 10 Ss (5 female) performed a similar task, except that picture probes were used. Ss using rehearsal coding responded faster to left-hemisphere probes, but Ss responded faster to right-hemisphere probes when imagery coding was employed. The differing laterality effects in these experiments were attributed to naming responses implicitly required in the 2nd experiment.