An investigation into manual asymmetries in grasp behavior and kinematics during an object manipulation task

Manual asymmetries in the control of movements have been investigated in a variety of experimental paradigms. Initial studies demonstrated that the dominant right hand has advantages over the non-dominant left hand in many aspects of motor control. However, more recent studies have shown that the presence and extent of these asymmetries depends on the task context and accuracy demands. Typically, manual asymmetries on a motor planning and motor execution level are examined separately. However, given that recent research has demonstrated that specific task constraints do not influence both levels equally, the purpose of the present experiment was to investigate manual asymmetries in motor planning and execution. To this end, initial grasp behavior (motor planning) and kinematics (motor execution) were examined in thirteen right-handed participants during a unimanual grasping and placing task. We specifically manipulated grasping hand, target location, object end orientation, and object grasp time at the start location. There were three main findings. First, motor planning or movement execution was similar regardless of grasping hand. Second, prospectively planned actions were influenced by target location and the required end orientation of the object. Third, the amount of time spent in an initial posture did not influence initial grasp postures. However, it did alter the movement kinematics during the grasping (approach phase) and placing (transport phase) portion of the task. We posit that grasping and placing movements are comprised of an initial grasp and a transport component, which are differentially influenced by task constraints.