Hemispheric asymmetry in use of semantic category information.

When two pictures of common objects were presented sequentially, the second was named more quickly if both were members of the same semantic category. This semantic priming effect occurred only when both pictures went directly to the left hemisphere. If the target or prime stimulus was presented to the left visual field--right hemisphere, no priming effect was observed. These results suggest that semantic category information is activated and used by the left hemisphere of the brain.