The human brain is functionally asymmetric. Producing and understanding language, for instance, engages the left hemisphere to a larger extent than the right in most people. Recent research showed that lateralization for auditory word processing increases with age. The present study extends these findings to the visual domain. We measured lateralization for visual word processing with the visual half field task in young (20-30 years) and older participants (70-80 years). The older cohort had a larger right visual field advantage in terms of reaction time (p = .016, dolder adults = 0.16, dyounger adults = 0.13) and accuracy (p = .053, dolder adults = 0.73, dyounger adults = 0.25). This difference was mainly driven by a weaker performance for words presented in the left visual field. Our findings suggest that hemisphere dominance for language increases with aging. Alternatively, the findings could be explained by delayed inter-hemispheric communication in older adults.

中文翻译：

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文字处理的正确视野优势在老年人中更强

人脑在功能上是不对称的。例如，在大多数人中，产生和理解语言对左半球的影响要大于右半球。最近的研究表明，听觉文字处理的侧化随着年龄的增长而增加。本研究将这些发现扩展到视觉领域。我们在年轻（20-30 岁）和年长参与者（70-80 岁）的视觉半场任务中测量了视觉文字处理的偏侧化。年龄较大的队列在反应时间（p = .016，幼仔 = 0.16，幼仔 = 0.13）和准确性（p = .053，幼仔 = 0.73，幼仔 = 0.25）方面具有更大的右视野优势。这种差异主要是由于左侧视野中呈现的单词的性能较弱所致。我们的研究结果表明，大脑半球对语言的支配地位随着年龄的增长而增加。或者，这些发现可以用老年人的半球间通信延迟来解释。