Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Two hemispheres—two networks: a computational model explaining hemispheric asymmetries while reading ambiguous words

  • Published:
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A computational model for reading that takes into account the different processing abilities of the two cerebral hemispheres is presented. This dual hemispheric reading model closely follows the original computational lines due to Kowamoto (J Mem Lang 32:474–516, 1993) but postulates a difference in architecture between the right and left hemispheres. Specifically it is assumed that orthographic, phonological and semantic units are completely connected in the left hemisphere, while there are no direct connections between phonological and orthographic units in the right hemisphere. It is claimed that this architectural difference results in hemisphere asymmetries in resolving lexical ambiguity and more broadly in the processing of written words. Simulation results bear this out. First, we show that the two networks successfully simulate the time course of lexical selection in the two cerebral hemispheres. Further, we were able to see a computational advantage of two separate networks, when information is transferred from the right hemisphere network to the left hemisphere network. Finally, beyond reproducing known empirical data, this dual hemispheric reading model makes novel and surprising predictions that were found to be consistent with new human data.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Banich, M.T.: The divided visual field technique in laterality and interhemispheric integration. In: Hughdahl, K. (ed.) Experimental Methods in Neuropsychology, pp. 47–64. Kluwer, New York (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Baynes, K., Eliassen, J.C.: The visual lexicon: its access and organization in commissurotomy patients. Right hemisphere language comprehension: perspectives from cognitive neuroscience. In: Beeman, M., Chiarello, C. (eds.) Right Hemisphere Language Comprehension: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience. Erlbaum, Mahwah (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Beeman, M., Friedman, R., Grafman, J., Perez, E., Diamond, S., Lindsay, M.: Summation priming and coarse coding in the right hemisphere. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 6, 26–45 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Beeman, M.J.: Bilateral brain processes for comprehending natural language. Trends Cogn. Sci. 9, 512–518 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Beeman, M.J., Chiarello, C.: Approximation by superpositions of a sigmoidal function. Complementary right and left hemisphere language comprehension. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 7, 2–8 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Burgess, C., Lund, K.: Modeling cerebral asymmetries of semantic memory using high-dimensional semantic space. In: Beeman, M., Chiarello, C. (eds.) Right Hemisphere Language Comprehension: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience. Erlbaum, Hillsdale (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Burgess, C., Simpson, G.B.: Cerebral hemispheric mechanisms in the retrieval of ambiguous word meanings. Brain Lang. 33, 86–103 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Coulson, S., Federmeier, K., Van Petten, C., Kutas, M.: Right hemisphere sensitivity to word and sentence-level context. J. Exper. Psychol., Learn., Mem., Cogn. 31, 129–147 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Coulson, S., Williams, R.W.: Hemispheric asymmetries and joke comprehension. Neuropsychologia 43, 128–141 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Duffy, S.A., Morris, R.K., Rayner, K.: Lexical ambiguity and fixation times in reading. J. Mem. Lang. 27, 429–446 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Eviatar, Z., Just, M.A.: Brain correlates of discourse processing: an FMRI investigation of irony and metaphor comprehension. Neuropsychologia 44, 2348–2359 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Faust, M.: Obtaining evidence of language comprehension from sentence priming. In: Beeman, M., Chiarello, C. (eds.) Right Hemisphere Language Comprehension: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience, pp. 161–186. Erlbaum, Hillsdale (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Faust, M., Chiarello, C.: Sentence context and lexical ambiguity resolution by the two hemispheres. Neuropsychologia 36, 827–835 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Faust, M.E., Gernsbacher, M.A.: Cerebral mechanisms for suppression of inappropriate information during sentence comprehension. Brain Lang. 53, 234–259 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Faust, M.E., Gernsbacher, M.A.: Right words and left words: electrophysiological evidence for hemispheric differences in meaning processing. Cogn. Brain Res. 8, 373–392 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Ferrand, L., Grainger, J.: Phonology and orthography in visual word recognition: evidence from masked nonword priming. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 45A, 353–372 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ferrand, L., Grainger, J.: The time-course of phonological and orthographic code activation in the early phases of visual word recognition. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 119–122 (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Fiorentini, A., Berardi, N.: Visual perceptual learning: a sign of neural plasticity at early stages of visual processing. Arch. Ital. Bio. 135, 157–167 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Frost, R.: Toward a strong phonological theory of visual word recognition: true issues and false trails. Psychol. Bull. 123, 71–99 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Giora, R., Zaidel, E., Soroker, N., Batori, G., Kasher, A.: Differential effect of right and left hemispheric damage on understanding sarcasm and metaphor. Metaphor Symb. 15, 63–83 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Grindrod, C.M., Baum Shari, R.: Sensitivity to local sentence context information in lexical ambiguity resolution: evidence from left- and right-hemisphere-damaged individuals. Brain Lang. 85, 503–523 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Halderman, L.K., Chiarello, C.: Cerebral asymmetries in early orthographic and phonological reading processes: evidence from backward masking. Brain Lang. 95, 342–352 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Harm, M.W., Seidenberg, M.S.: Computing the meanings of words in reading: cooperative division of labor between visual and phonological processes. Psychol. Rev. 111, 662–720 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hinton, G., Shallice, T.: Lesioning an attractor network: investigations of acquired dyslexia. Psychol. Rev. 98(1), 74–95 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hopfield, J.: Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79, 2554–2558 (1982)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  26. Iacoboni, M., Zaidel, E.: Hemispheric independence in word recognition: evidence from unilateral and bilateral presentations. Brain Lang. 53, 121–140 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Kawamoto, A.H.: Nonlinear dynamics in the resolution of lexical ambiguity: a parallel distributed processing account. J. Mem. Lang. 32, 474–516 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kello, C.T., Plaut, D.C.: Strategic control over rate of processing in word reading: a computational investigation. J. Mem. Lang. 48, 207–232 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lavidor, M., Ellis, A.W.: Orthographic and phonological priming in the two cerebral hemispheres. Laterality 8, 201–223 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Manevitz, L.M., Zemach, Y.: Assigning meaning to data: using sparse distributed memory for multilevel cognitive tasks. Neurocomputing 14(1), 15–39 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Marsolek, C.J., Kosslyn, S.M., Squire, L.R.: Form-specific visual priming in the right cerebral hemisphere. J. Exper. Psychol., Learn., Mem., Cogn. 18, 492–508 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Marsolek, C.J., Schacter, D.L., Nicholas, C.D.: Form-specific visual priming for new associations in the right cerebral hemisphere. Mem. Cogn. 24, 539–556 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Mashal, N., Faust, M., Hendler, T.: The role of the right hemisphere in processing nonsalient metaphorical meanings: application of principal components analysis to FMRI data. Neuropsychologia 43(14), 2084–2100 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Mason, R.A., Just, M.A.: Lexical ambiguity in sentence comprehension. Brain Res. 1146, 115–127 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. McDonald, S.: Clinical insights into pragmatic theory: frontal lobe deficits and sarcasm. Brain Lang. 53, 81–104 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. McDonald, S.: Exploring the process of inference generation in sarcasm: a review of normal and clinical studies. Brain Lang. 68, 486–506 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Peleg, O., Eviatar, Z.: Hemispheric sensitivities to lexical and contextual constraints: evidence from ambiguity resolution. Brain Lang. 105(2), 71–82 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Peleg, O., Eviatar, Z., Hazan, H., Manevitz, L.: Differences and interactions between cerebral hemisphers when processing ambiguous homographs. In: Paletta, L., Rome, E. (eds.) Attention in Cognitive Systems. Theories and Systems from an Interdisciplinary Viewpoint. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, vol. 4840. A Subseries of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer (2008)

  39. Peleg, O., Giora, R., Fein, O.: Salience and context effects: two are better than one. Metaphor Symb. 16, 173–192 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Peleg, O., Giora, R., Fein, O.: Contextual strength: the whens and hows of context effects. In: Noveck, I., Sperber, D. (eds.) Experimental Pragmatics, pp. 172–186. Pagrave, Basingstoke (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Peleg, O., Eviatar, Z.: Semantic asymmetries are modulated by phonological asymmetries: evidence from the disambiguation of homophonic versus heterophonic homographs. Brain Cogn. 70, 154–162 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Plaut, D.C.: Lesioning attractor networks as models of neuropsychological deficits. In: Arbib, M.A. (ed.) The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks, pp. 540–543. MIT Press (1995)

  43. Plaut, D.C.: Relearning after damage in connectionist networks: toward a theory of rehabilitation. Brain Lang. 52, 25–82 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Plaut, D.C., McClelland, J.L., Seidenberg, M.S., Patterson, K.: Understanding normal and impaired word reading: computational principles in quasi-regular domains. Psychol. Rev. 103, 56–115 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Plaut, D.C., Shallice, T.: Deep dyslexia: a case study of connectionist neuropsychology. Cogn. Neuropsychol. 10, 377–500 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Seidenberg, M.S., McClelland, J.I.: A distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming. Psychol. Rev. 96, 523–568 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Sejnowski, T.J., Rosenberg, C.R.: Nettalk: a parallel network that learns to read aloud. Cogn. Sci. 14, 179–211 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Simpson, G.B.: Context and the processing of ambiguous words. In: Gernsbacher, M.A. (ed.) Handbook of Psycholinguistics, pp. 359–374. Academic, San Diego (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Simpson, G.B.: Lexical ambiguity and its role in models of word recognition. Psychol. Bull. 96, 316–340 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Small, S.I., Cottrell, G.W., Tanenhaus, M.K.: Lexical ambiguity resolution: perspectives from psycholinguistics. In: Neuropsychology, and Artificial Intelligence. Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Smolka, E., Eviatar, Z.: Phonological and orthographic visual word recognition in the two cerebral hemispheres: evidence from Hebrew. Cogn. Neuropsychol. 23(6), 972–989(18) (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Thivierge, J.P., Titone, D., Shultz, T.R.: Simulating Frontotemporal Pathways Involved in Lexical Ambiguity Resolution (2005)

  53. Titone, D.A.: Hemispheric differences in context sensitivity during lexical ambiguity resolution. Brain Lang. 65, 361–394 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Tompkins, C.A., Lehman, M.T.: Interpreting intended meanings after right hemisphere brain damage: an analysis of evidence, potential account, and clinical implications. Top. Stroke Rehabil. 5, 29–47 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Van Orden, G.C., Kloos, H.: The question of phonology and reading. In: Snowling, M.S., Hulme, C., Seidenberg, M. (eds.) The Science of Reading: A Handbook, pp. 39–60. Blackwell (2005)

  56. Weems, S.A., Reggia, J.A.: Hemispheric specialization and independence for word recognition: a comparison of three computational models. Brain Lang. 89, 554–568 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Zaidel, E.: Reading in the disconnected right hemisphere: an aphasiological perspective. In: Zotterman, Y. (ed.) Dyslexia: Neuronal, Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects, vol. 35, pp. 67–91. Pergamon, Oxford (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  58. Zaidel, E.: The Dual Brain. Hemispheric Specialization in Humans. The Guildford Press, New York (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  59. Zaidel, E.: Language in the disconnected right hemisphere encyclopedia of neuroscience. In: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, vol. 89, pp. 563–564. Birkhauser, Cambridge (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  60. Zaidel, E.: Language functions in the two hemispheres following cerebral commissurotomy and hemispherectomy. In: Handbook of Neuropsychology, vol. 4, pp. 115–150. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  61. Zaidel, E.: Language in the right hemisphere following callosal disconnection. In: Stemmer, B., Whitaker, H. (eds.) Handbook of Neuropsychology, vol. 89, pp. 369–383. Academic, New York (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  62. Zaidel, E., Peters, A.M.: Phonological encoding and ideographic reading by the disconnected right hemisphere: two case studies. Brain Lang. 14, 205–234 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Orna Peleg & Zohar Eviatar

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Larry Manevitz & Hananel Hazan

Authors
  1. Orna Peleg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Larry Manevitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hananel Hazan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zohar Eviatar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Larry Manevitz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Peleg, O., Manevitz, L., Hazan, H. et al. Two hemispheres—two networks: a computational model explaining hemispheric asymmetries while reading ambiguous words. Ann Math Artif Intell 59, 125–147 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10472-010-9210-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10472-010-9210-1

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classifications (2010)

Search

Navigation