Influence of Measurement Order by Dominant and Nondominant Hands on Performance of a Pursuit-Rotor Task

Abstract

This study examined the effect of bilateral transfer and performance variation on 10 trials of a pursuit-rotor task. 95 right-handed healthy men ( M age = 21.0 yr., SD = 3.6) were randomly divided into Right-Left (R-L: n = 50) and Left-Right (L-R: n = 45) groups. The former performed the task with the right hand first and the latter group used the left hand first. Target contact times on the pursuit-rotor task improved at about the same rate. Contact times by the left hand after using the right hand were longer than those when the left hand was used first. Although variation of contact times converged with repeated trials, when the left hand was used first, the performance variation remained large for right-handed participants.