The efficacy of executive functions depends on information processing in earlier cognitive stages. For example, initial processing of verbal stimuli in the left-hemisphere leads to more efficient response inhibition than initial processing of verbal stimuli in the right hemisphere. However, it is unclear whether this organizational principle is specific for the language system, or a general principle that also applies to other types of lateralized cognition. To answer this question, a team of IKN neuroscientists investigated the neurophysiological correlates of early attentional processes, facial expression perception and response inhibition during tachistoscopic presentation of facial ‘Go’ and ‘Nogo’ stimuli in the left and the right visual field. Participants committed fewer false alarms after Nogo-stimulus presentation in the left compared to the right visual field. This right-hemispheric asymmetry on the behavioral level was also reflected in the neurophysiological correlates of face perception, as well as in ERPs related to response inhibition. These findings show that an effect of hemispheric asymmetries in early information processing on the efficacy of higher cognitive functions can be generalized to predominantly right-hemispheric functions.

Ocklenburg, S., Ness, V., Güntürkün, O., Suchan, B., Beste, C. (2013). Response inhibition is modulated by functional cerebral asymmetries for facial expression perception: Frontiers in Psychology, 4:879, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00879