The two well know dichotomies in hemispheric functions--temporal-spatial, and analysis-synthesis (extraction-integration)--are combined in a unified theory of cerebral dominance. The two dichotomies are first considered within the framework of a two-stage model of information processing, and subsequently reduced to the extraction and integration operations performed at each of the two stages. At the first stage, the respective operations of extraction and integration applied on the sensory stream yield the spatiotemporal organization of events. At the second stage, these operations are expressed in progressively more complex organizations such as verbal coding and pictorial imagery. The model is finally generalized into a multiple-stage model. Some empirical consequences are derived.

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The ability of human subjects to judge the duration of short empty time intervals was studied in relation to the modality composition of the marker signals. At each trial, a pair of empty intervals was presented by a series of three successive stimuli, and the subject was asked to point out the longer interval of the two. Tone pips and flashes of light were used as the bounding signals. All the possible combinations of auditory and visual stimuli were used, in random order, to delimit pairs of intervals. Performance was found modality-independent when the first two stimuli were of the same modality. Strong response biases were introduced by varying the modality of the first or the second stimulus. Analysis of these biases indicates that memorization of the empty time intervals is affected by the modality of the binding signals.