Abstract: The present study investigated whether dividing information between the hemispheres becomes more advantageous to the recognition of Chinese words as the process stages increase. The process stages were varied by the different attributes of words to be processed. Experiment 1, A matching method was used for the words of visual similarity, homophone and synonym. Directing retrieval method was used in Experiment 2. The results showed that the performance of visual similarity material presented to the same hemisphere or to two hemispheres simultaneously had no difference. But the homophone and synonym indicated to be more advantageous having both hemispheres involed in processing than just one. The explanation of this phenomenon was discussed by the characterics of brain function.

Key words: recognition of Chinese words, hemisphere, coordinate action