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Handedness, laterality and the size-weight illusion
Gavin Buckingham1, Nathalie S Ranger, Melvyn A Goodale
1Centre for Brain and Mind, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. gbucking@uwo.ca
Summary
Handedness influences object weight perception, but not fingertip force control during lifting tasks. Right-handers showed greater size-weight illusion asymmetry than left-handers, indicating complex hand dominance effects.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Biomechanics
- Human Factors
Background:
- Hand dominance and limb asymmetries are crucial in motor control.
- The size-weight illusion (SWI) provides a paradigm to study perceptual-motor interactions.
- Understanding how handedness affects force control and weight perception is key to refining models of cerebral laterality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of handedness and lifting hand on object lifting and weight perception.
- To examine asymmetries in force information retention and transfer between limbs.
- To determine if hand dominance affects fingertip force scaling and error correction.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 30 left-handers and 30 right-handers for object lifting tasks.
- Utilized specially constructed 'size-weight illusion' (SWI) cubes.
- Measured fingertip forces and perceptual judgments during lifts with both left and right hands.
Main Results:
- Right-handers experienced a larger SWI with their left hand compared to their right; left-handers showed no such asymmetry.
- No significant asymmetry was found in fingertip force scaling or error correction between preferred and non-preferred hands.
- Right-handers transferred force information between hands more effectively than left-handers.
Conclusions:
- Hand dominance does not influence fingertip force control during object lifting.
- Perceptual illusions (SWI) can be independent of applied forces.
- Cerebral laterality models may need revision to incorporate kinetic variables alongside kinematic ones.
