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Lateral difference in reaction times to lateralized auditory stimuli
B J Gutnik1, H W Mackie, W Guo
1Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Science and Technology, UNITEC, Auckland, New Zealand.
Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
|February 24, 2001
Summary
Reaction time (RT) is faster with the dominant hand for audio sensory-motor reactions. This laterality effect highlights the left hemisphere's role in processing and movement programming.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Human Motor Control
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Reaction time (RT) is influenced by hemispheric specialization in stimulus processing and response execution.
- Faster and more accurate responses occur when stimuli are directed to the specialized hemisphere and processed by the same hemisphere.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of laterality on ipsilateral reactions using reaction time (RT) as the primary parameter.
- To examine RT differences in response to monaural lateralized stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Twenty-four undergraduate students and 10 rugby players participated.
- Participants performed unilateral responses to single and choice RT tasks involving simple and complex sensory-motor reactions (SMR).
Main Results:
- Shorter reaction times were observed with the dominant hand for both simple and complex audio SMR tasks.
- These findings were consistent regardless of sex or sport skill level.
Conclusions:
- The results support the specialization of the left hemisphere in information processing mechanisms.
- This specialization is geared towards the programming of motor movements, leading to faster reaction times with the dominant hand.