Psycholinguistic Evidence for Laterality Preferences and Information Processing in Japanese *

The human brain exhibits hemispheric differences in information processing functions, and this fact of laterality preferences is reflected in language processing functions which involve lexical access and written word recognition in Japanese. This paper evaluates the Japanese psycholinguistic literature in the areas of experimental psychology and clinical aphasiology in an attempt to ascertain whether Japanese is unique in its characteristic pattern of laterality preferences in information processing tasks which involve its syllabary (kana) and Chinese character (kanji) orthographic representations. This paper also addresses misperceptions regarding lateralization and hemispheric preferences in processing Japanese orthographic types, since purported differences in lateralization can be uncritically accepted as underlying factors in not only language processing, but can also find their way into Nihonjinron discussions of differences in mental attitude and philosophical outlook.