Do my hands prime your hands? The hand-to-response correspondence effect

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Motor Control

Background:

• Handle-response correspondence influences key-press responses for one-handled objects.
• The current study investigates this effect with two-handled objects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if handle-response correspondence applies to two-handled objects.
• To explore the impact of allocentric and egocentric perspectives on this effect.
• To examine the influence of within-hand versus between-hand response modes.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted using two-handled objects (e.g., shears).
• Participants performed between-hand or within-hand responses to categorize objects.
• Stimuli were presented from allocentric and egocentric perspectives.

Main Results:

• Categorization was consistently harder when object grasp and response sides were mismatched.
• This effect was observed across different perspectives and response modes.
• The findings indicate spatial coding is sensitive to response requirements.

Conclusions:

• Handle-response correspondence is a robust phenomenon extending to two-handled objects.
• Spatial coding and action potentiation theories require consideration of response mode.
• Different neural mechanisms may underlie within-hand and between-hand actions.