Memory for kinesthetically defined target location: evidence for manual asymmetries

Sixteen right-handed male adults performed a pointing task without vision. The participant's arm was moved passively to one of four targets which was subsequently pointed to following a delay of 1, 2, or 10 s. Our previous research on visual memory for target location showed a rapid decay which was comparable for both hands. The present study of memory for kinesthetic target location found decay for the left hand only. These findings suggest two memory stores for target location information, one visual which decays over time but is accessible to both hands and another based on kinesthetic information which is more stable and limb specific.