Cognitive consequences of individual differences in arousal asymmetry

•Examined cognitive consequences of individual differences in arousal asymmetry.•Arousal asymmetry was assessed with a line perception task.•Greater RH activation was associated with the ability to generate remote associates.•Greater RH activation was associated with priming of distant semantic associates.•Arousal asymmetry is related to variability in semantic organization and retrieval.

Prior research has demonstrated that semantic organization in the right hemisphere (RH) is more diffuse and specialized for distant semantic associates than is semantic organization in the left hemisphere (LH). The present research explored individual differences in this regard. If the RH is more specialized for distant semantic associates, then individuals with a more active RH should display greater activation of distant semantic associations. Two experiments were conducted to examine this issue. In both studies a line bisection task was used to assess arousal asymmetry. In Experiment 1, greater RH activation was associated with the ability to generate remote associates to three word stimuli. In Experiment 2, relatively greater RH activation was associated with enhanced priming of distant semantic associates. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that arousal asymmetry is an individual difference variable that is related to variability in semantic organization and retrieval.