The Right Hemisphere and Ambiguity
A Possible Role of Handedness in Rorschach Responsivity
Abstract
Abstract. The Rorschach Test has evolved from an idiosyncratic projective personality test to an evidence-based performance test used widely in forensic settings. The current paper argues that Rorschach researchers should consider the role of two related neuropsychological factors in the assessment of Rorschach responding: the role of the right cerebral hemisphere in the perception of ambiguous figures and the role of individual differences (as a function of consistency of handedness) in responding to ambiguous stimuli. The right hemisphere is more fluent and flexible in the perception of ambiguous stimuli. Moreover, individuals with mixed/inconsistent hand preference have greater access to right hemisphere processing, and, accordingly, are more fluent and flexible in their perception of ambiguous stimuli. This raises the possibility of quantitative and qualitative differences in Rorschach responsivity as a function of test takers’ handedness. Implications of the presence of higher rates of schizotypy in inconsistent-handers are also discussed.
References
2008). Right temporopolar activation associated with unique perception. NeuroImage, 41(1), 145–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.01.059
(2015). When deal depth doesn’t matter: How handedness consistency influences consumer response to horizontal versus vertical price comparisons. Marketing Letters, 26(2), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-013-9276-8
(1983). Reflection of functional hemispheric asymmetry in some phenomena of visual perception. Human Physiology, 8, 410–417.
(1961). Functional levels of disturbance manifested by brain-damaged (left hemiplegic) patients as revealed in Rorschach responses. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 132(5), 410–416. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-196105000-00005
(1995). Rorschach inkblots in the peripheral visual fields: Enhanced associative quality to the left of fixation. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 156(3), 385–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1995.9914831
(1993). “Meaningful” patterns in visual noise: Effects of lateral stimulation and the observer’s belief in ESP. Psychopathology, 26(5–6), 261–265. https://doi.org/10.1159/000284831
(2009). The role of intellectual openness in the relationship between hand preference and positive schizotypy. Laterality, 14(5), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500802349684
(2019). Relationships between personality features and the rubber hand illusion: An exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article
(2762 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.027622018). Handedness and religious beliefs: Testing the two possible accounts of authoritarianism and belief updating. Personality and Individual Differences, 127, 101–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.02.005
(2013). Handedness and “earedness”: Strong right-handers are less likely to prefer obscure musical genres. Psychology of Music, 41(1), 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735611415751
(2014). Individual differences in personality as a function of degree of handedness: Consistent-handers are less sensation seeking, more authoritarian, and more sensitive to disgust. Laterality, 17, 354–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2013.838962
(2007). Handedness differences in body image distortion and eating disorder symptomatology. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 247–256. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20357
(2008). Mixed-handed persons are more easily persuaded and are more gullible: Interhemispheric interaction and belief updating. Laterality, 13(5), 403–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500802079646
(2007). Individual differences in risk perception versus risk taking: Handedness and interhemispheric interaction. Brain and Cognition, 63(1), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2006.08.001
(2016). Half oaks, half willows: Degree, not direction, of handedness underlies both stable prevalence in the human population and species-beneficial variations in cognitive flexibility. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2, 228–236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-016-0047-7
(2010).
(An interhemispheric basis for episodic memory: Effects of handedness and bilateral eye movements . In G. DaviesD. WrightEds., Current issues in applied memory (pp. 185–205). Psychology Press.2009). Individual differences in ambiguous figure perception: Degree of handedness and interhemispheric interaction. perception, 38, 1183–1198. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6131
(1993). Cerebral asymmetry and emotion: Conceptual and methodological conundrums. Cognition and Emotion, 7, 115–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939308409180
(2005). Handedness and schizophrenia: A quantitative review of evidence. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 111, 410–419. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00519.x
(1994). Rorschach and the study of the individual. Rorschachiana, 19(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1027/1192-5604.19.1.7
(1968). Left-handedness: A study of its relation to opposition. Journal of Projective Techniques & Personality Assessment, 32, 49–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/0091651X.1968.10120446
(1984). Spécialisation hémisphérique et traitement analytique et gestaltique des informations. Une recherche avec le test de Rorschach
([Hemispheric specialization and analytical and gestaltic processing of information. Research with the Rorschach Test] . Revue de Psychologie Appliquée, 34, 89–98.2003). Generating an image from an ambiguous visual input: An electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation. Brain and Cognition, 51, 287–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-2626(03)00032-0
(2019). Human movement responses to the Rorschach and mirroring activity: An fMRI study. Assessment, 26, 56–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191117731813
(2016). Neural activity during production of Rorschach responses: An fMRI study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 262, 25–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.02.001
(1968). Ideation in patients with unilateral or bilateral midline brain lesions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 73, 526–531. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0026515
(1996).
(Inkblot testing of commisurotomy subjects: Contrasting modes of organizing reality . In S. HameroffA. W. KaszniakA. C. ScottEds., Toward a science of consciousness: The first Tucson discussions and debates (pp. 203–221). MIT Press.2012). Differences of prefrontal cortex activity between picture-based personality tests: A near-infrared spectroscopy study. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94, 366–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2012.666597
(2016). Difference in brain hemodynamics in response to achromatic and chromatic cards of the Rorschach: A fMRI study. Rorschachiana, 37(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1027/1192-5604/a000076
(2014). Individual differences in information order effects: The importance of right-hemisphere access in belief updating. Acta Psychologica, 148, 115–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.01.004
(2002). Reversed lateralization of temporal activation during speech production in thought disordered patients with schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 32, 439–449. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291702005287
(2020). Hand preference and intolerance of uncertainty: Atypical cerebral lateralization advantages lower intolerance of uncertainty. Laterality, 25(1), 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2019.1611843
(in press). Social comparison and handedness: Mixed handers are less susceptible to egocentric biases in judgments about others’ performance. Personality and Individual Differences.
(1979). Organic signs, creativity, and personality characteristics of patients following cerebral commissurotomy. Clinical Neuropsychology, 1, 29–33.
(2014). Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian. Laterality, 19(2), 146–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2013.783044
(2010). When more is less: Associations between corpus callosum size and handedness lateralization. NeuroImage, 52, 43–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.04.016
(2020). Why are consistently-handed individuals more authoritarian? The role of need for cognitive closure. Laterality, 25(4), 490–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2020.1765791
(1990). Preference and classification of emotional stimuli: A lateralized tachistoscopic experiment (Diploma thesis). Seminar of Applied Psychology.
(2018).
(Introduction to R-PAS . In J. L. MihuraG. J. MeyerEds., Using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) (pp. 3–22). Guilford Press.1989). Hemispheric asymmetries in interpreting forms vs colors in ambiguous patterns. Brain and Cognition, 9, 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2626(89)90048-1
(2002). Interhemispheric interaction and consciousness: Degree of handedness predicts the intensity of a sensory illusion. Laterality, 7(1), 85–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500143000159
(2004). Gödel, Escher, and degree of handedness: Differences in interhemispheric interaction predict differences in understanding self-reference. Laterality, 9(1), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500342000130
(1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(71)90067-4
(2005). Are the relationships between NEO PI-R and Rorschach markers of openness to experience dependent on the patient’s test-taking attitude? Rorschachiana, 27(1), 30–50. https://doi.org/10.1027/1192-5604.27.1.30
(2013). Degree of handedness, but not direction, is a systematic predictor of cognitive performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 3–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00009
(2012). Asymmetry in resting alpha activity: Effects of handedness. Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 1, 86–90. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojmp.2012.14014
(2004). Is there geographical variation in human handedness? Laterality, 9(1), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500244000274
(1991). The perception and control of emotion: Hemispheric differences and the role of the frontal lobes (Habilitation thesis). University of Zürich.
(1997). Hemispheric differences in the processing of ambiguity: Tachistoscopic studies with inkblots. Rorschachiana, 22(1), 114–129. https://doi.org/10.1027/1192-5604.22.1.114
(1985).
(Affectivity: Tachistoscopic evidence of hemispheric differences . In F. SchmielauEd., Psychologie in der Medizin (pp. 10–11). München.2012). Interhemispheric interaction and egocentrism: The role of handedness in social comparative judgement. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51, 111–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02007.x
(1982). The cerebral balance of power: Confrontation or cooperation? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 8, 253–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.8.2.253
(1979). On the use of symmetry in the Rorschach Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, 355–359. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4304_3
(2009). Influence of handedness and bilateral eye movements on creativity. Brain and Cognition, 71(3), 204–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2009.08.017
(2009). Hand-preference and population schizotypy: A meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Research, 108, 25–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2008.11.010
(2001). Handedness, language lateralisation and anatomical asymmetry in schizophrenia: Meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 178, 344–351. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.178.4.344
(2012). Semantic organization and handedness: Mixed-handedness is associated with more diffuse activation of ambiguous word associates. Laterality, 17(1), 38–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2010.529450
(2009). Individual differences in semantic switching flexibility: Effects of handedness. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 15, 1023–1027. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617709990440
(2015). Mixed-footedness is a more relevant predictor of schizotypy than mixed-handedness. Psychiatry Research, 225, 446–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.11.069
(1989). Hemispheric differences in global versus local processing of hierarchical visual stimuli by normal subjects: New data and a meta-analysis of previous studies. Neuropsychologia, 27, 1165–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(89)90099-7
(1987). Ideation and memory in the inkblot technique after focal cerebral lesions. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 9, 699–710. https://doi.org/10.1080/01688638708405211
(