Studies of squeezing: handedness, responding hand, response force, and asymmetry of readiness potential

Eleven subjects squeezed an electronic dynamometer, at each of three force levels, with both their right and left hands. In right-handed subjects the premovement "readiness" potentials were larger over the hemisphere contralateral to the responding hand. Left-handed subjects show contralateral dominance when responding with the right hand but not when responding with the left hand. The data suggest that in the potentials studied there is a component associated with the preparation to perform a specific movement, rather than with generalized preparatory processes.