Semantic processing

When the subjects showed high confidence and correctly retained the information, the fMRI measured increased activity in the left prefrontal regions.

It is believed that the left hemisphere of the brain dominates convergent semantic processing due to the fine grained, small window of temporal integration.

[1][2] Spatially, neurons in the left hemispheres occupy mutually exclusive regions, allowing for the more fine-tuned response seen in convergent semantic processing.

To test for convergent processing, an experimenter may instructs the subject to select an infinite verb that most accurately describes the function of each stimuli.

It is believed that the right hemisphere of the brain commands divergent semantic processing through its coarse grained, large windows of temporal integration.

Neurons in the right hemisphere occupy overlapping regions of space, allowing for the network activation of concepts necessary for divergent processing.

The right hemisphere activates concepts that are more loosely associated with a stimulus, allowing for production of non-literal and less frequent meanings of words.

For example, a subject with right hemisphere damage will group the word “deep” with its antonym “shallow,” and have trouble producing the non-literal association of “deep” with “wise.” Furthermore, their significant loss of divergent processing can affect things like their ability to understand jokes, metaphors, idioms, etc., as proper understanding may be heavily reliant on sustained activation of the different meanings of a word.