Both behavioural and event-related brain potential (ERP) studies have revealed hemispheric differences in word processing at various levels such as phonological, lexical and semantic stages of information processing. While asymmetries have been proposed at multiple levels of processing, very few studies have attempted to systematically disentangle these factors. In my current research, I examine hemispheric differences in lexical and semantic processing using ERPs and visual half-field presentation within a well established paradigm designed to separate lexical and semantic influences on priming.

More generally, I am also interested in how the two hemispheres process lower level language information, specifically examining the differing pathways that the hemispheres employ to recognize and comprehend words. This also leads to interesting hemispheric asymmetries in the nature, form and duration of memory representations for words that will subsequently be extracted or retrieved for language comprehension.