Hemispheric specialization and recognition memory for abstract and realistic pictures: a comparison of painters and laymen.

Recognition memory and hemispheric specialization were assessed for abstract colour/black and white pictures of sport situations in painters and visually naïve subjects using a forced choice yes/no tachistoscopic procedure. Reaction times showed a significant three-way interaction of picture type, expertise, and visual field, indicating that painters processed the abstract pictures in the right hemisphere and sport pictures leftwards relative to the novices. The novices showed an overall LVF/RH advantage, strongest for sport pictures. The opposing gradients in the painters indicate a preferential change of processing strategy by which descriptive systems appear to have developed for figurative, but not abstract pictures.