Certain asymmetries of perception in the right and left visual fields of American college students have been described as the effect of a reading habit which predisposes the subjects to scan or organize material in a left-to-right direction and thus to identify more accurately the items in the left field. The purpose of the present work was to test this interpretation by investigating subjects who read from right-to-left (Israelis whose native reading language is Hebrew). Contrary to expectations, the Israeli college students showed greater accuracy for the left visual field and tended to organize a series of items in a left-to-right direction. The investigation was extended to several groups of children, and a tentative picture of the development of an "attentiveness to the left" was obtained. (Author/LL)