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Abstract:
In present study we examined whether reading directionality
habits may modulate neglect phenomena by comparing attention shifts
to the right and to the left in neglect patients whose primary
language is read from right to left, and patients whose primary
language is read from left to right. Behavioral consequences of
attention shift were measured using a version of Posner's
attention-cueing paradigm and assessing Stroop effects for color
names printed in the two types of orthographies. Regardless of
reading habits and cue validity in the Posner's task, RTs to
targets presented in the left frame were longer than to targets
presented in the right. The side effect and the validity effect for
left targets was considerably larger for left-to-right than for
right-to-left readers. In the Stroop paradigm all patients were
slower naming the colors of incongruent or neutral stimuli, than
congruent stimuli. The Stroop effect was considerably larger in
Hebrew readers than in left-to-right readers. Furthermore, the
percentage of errors (reading the word rather than naming its
color) was twice as large in the right-to-left than in the left-to
right readers. We propose that left-to-right reading is more liable
to automatic execution, i.e., it demands less attentional
resources, thus causing less interference with the primary
attention-demanding task of color naming. Hence, reading habits are
likely to modulate task performance.
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