Lateral Difference and Interhemispheric Transfer on Arm-Positioning Movement between Right and Left Handers

Abstract

We investigated the transfer of an arm-positioning movement between the right and left arms of right and left handers. 30 male (15 strong right handers and 15 strong left handers) subjects were asked to perform a constrained criterion movement, 12 cm in length, with right or left arm and a test movement at estimated 6-, 12-, or 24-cm length with the contralateral arm. In the right handers, the constant error of the left arm test movement was near zero, and that of the right arm indicated overshooting. In the left handers, the constant errors of the left arm test movement were farther from zero than those of right arm test movement. Left handers as well as right handers showed manual asymmetry on positioning movement. A plausible explanation for the manual asymmetry on the arm-positioning task is related to interhemispheric transfer of spatial information on positioning movement.