When 5s are asked to recall verbal materials tachistoscopically presented simultaneously in both visual fields, recall is typically better for items in the left visual field. Some £s have interpreted this finding as indicating a perceptual mechanism that necessitates scanning the memory trace in a left-toright order, with fading of the elements in the right field while those in the left are being scanned. An alternative explanation is that since 5s tend to report the items in a left-to-right order, there is fading of the memory trace for the right-hand elements during the relatively slow task of reporting the earlier items. In order to differentiate between the two theories, 5s were asked to report only one item, as indicated by tactile vibration of one of their fingers immediately after presentation of the visual materials. Using this technique, no left-right field differences were found. A second experiment examined the effect of varying the interval between presentation of items and occurrence of the signal indicating the letter which was to be recalled. Even with intervals of 2,000 msec., no left-right differences were found.
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