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Related Experiment Videos

Right-hand superiority for throwing but not for intercepting.

N V Watson1, D Kimura

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Neuropsychologia
|January 1, 1989
PubMed
Summary

Handedness and brain hemisphere dominance influence motor task performance. This study found equal left and right hand ability in intercepting tasks but not in throwing, suggesting a link between spatial complexity and hand performance.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Motor Control
  • Human Movement Science

Background:

  • Human motor control relies on left hemisphere praxis systems, influencing right-hand preference.
  • Right-hand preference may stem from preferential left-hemisphere connections to the right hand.
  • Understanding hemispheric contributions to motor tasks is crucial for explaining handedness and performance disparities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how spatial complexity and motor-programming demands affect hand preference and performance.
  • To determine if a task minimizing motor-programming while maximizing spatial complexity reduces the left-right hand performance gap.
  • To explore sex differences in motor task performance and their relation to physique or athleticism.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed left and right hand accuracy in 48 right-handed university students across two distinct motor tasks.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Task 1 involved overhand throwing of darts at a stationary target.
  • Task 2 required open-hand interception of projectiles with varying trajectories and velocities.

    • Main Results:

    • A significant Hand x Task interaction was observed.
    • No significant difference in accuracy was found between the left and right hands for the interception task.
    • The left hand was significantly less accurate than the right hand for the throwing task.
    • Males outperformed females in both tasks, independent of physique or athleticism.

    Conclusions:

    • Motor task design significantly impacts observed hand performance differences, with interception tasks showing less disparity than throwing tasks.
    • The findings support the hypothesis that tasks engaging right hemisphere mechanisms (spatial complexity) can diminish left-right hand performance differences.
    • Sex differences in motor performance exist and are not solely explained by physical attributes.