Verb and Verb-Derived Noun Production: Hemifield Similarities and Differences

The present study explores hemispheric differences in verb and verb-derived noun production in terms of the impact of various picture and word characteristics on visual field reaction time variance. The unique contribution of predictors has been interpreted as activation of a corresponding property, as indication of a stage of picture processing and as activation of a corresponding mechanism/system in a certain hemisphere. The results of a regression analysis suggested that action-associated images were activated in the right hemisphere independently of the type of word produced. However, activation patterns in the left hemisphere appeared to be sensitive to the difference in word types. Whereas verb production activated the conceptual system in the left hemisphere, verb-derived noun production activated the lexical system in the same hemisphere. This differential pattern was interpreted in terms of the different weights of motor information carried by verbs and verb-derived nouns.