The Effect of Monaural Auditory Stimulus on Hand Selection When Reaching

This study investigated the effect of monaural auditory stimulus on hand selection when reaching. Healthy right-handed participants were asked to reach to a visual target and were free to use either the right or left hand. A visual target appeared at one of 11 positions in the visual field between -25 and 25 degrees of the horizontal visual angle. An auditory stimulus was given either in the left or right ear 100 ms after the presentation of the visual target, or no auditory stimulus was given. An auditory stimulus in the right ear increased right hand selection, and that in the left ear slightly increased left hand selection when reaching to a target around the midline of the visual field. The horizontal visual angle, where the probabilities of right hand selection and left hand selection were equal when reaching, shifted leftward when an auditory stimulus was given in the right ear, but the angle did not shift in either direction when an auditory stimulus was given in the left ear. The right-ear-dominant auditory stimulus effect on hand selection indicates hemispheric asymmetry of cortical activity for hand selection.