Hemispheric asymmetry and interhemispheric transfer in pointing depend on the spatial components of the movement

The purpose of the present study was to compare the asymmetry and transfer in 3 pointing movements with increasing spatial requirements. The triggering signal was one of four visual targets appearing on the right or left of a central fixation point (FP). The first task consisted in simply removing the arm from the starting platform; the second was a pointing movement towards the FP, and the third was a classical pointing task towards one of the four lateral targets. 20 right-handers (Rhrs) and 20 left-handers (Lhrs) participated in this experiment. In the classical pointing task (task 3), the reaction times were shorter in the Rhrs using their left hand. No such hand-related difference was observed in the Lhrs. No hand asymmetry was observed in the other tasks. In addition, the responses were faster in the uncrossed than in the crossed conditions, in task 3 only. It was concluded that in pointing tasks, both the hemispheric asymmetry and the interhemispheric transfer depend on the spatial requirements of the movement.