Representational pseudoneglect for detecting changes to Rey-Osterrieth figures

Abstract

When dividing attention between the left and right sides of physical space, most individuals pay slightly more attention to the left side. This phenomenon, known as pseudoneglect, may also occur for the left and right sides of mental representations of stimuli. Representational pseudoneglect has been shown for the recall of real-world scenes and for simple, briefly presented stimuli. The current study sought to investigate the effect of exposure duration and complexity using adaptations of the Rey-Osterrieth figures. Undergraduates (n = 97) were shown a stimulus for 20 s and asked to remember it. Participants were then shown a probe and indicated whether it was the same or different. Results showed that, irrespective of whether an element was added or subtracted, changes on the left side of the remembered image were better detected. These results are consistent with representational pseudoneglect and demonstrate that this effect occurs for complex stimuli when presented for an extended period of time. Representation neglect is therefore unlikely to be the result of an initial saccade to the left-but could be related to the formation or recall of the representation.