Bilateral skin temperature, handedness, and the biofeedback control of skin temperature

There are differences in physiological variables when they are recorded from the left and right side of the body simultaneously. In some cases, handedness has been found to have a significant relationship to bilateral differences. The present study examined the relationship between handedness and baseline heart rate and skin temperature, as well as bilateral differences in skin temperature during visual and auditory biofeedback. Subjects were 32 college females, 24 right-handed and 8 left-handed. Recordings of heart rate and skin temperature from both the dominant and the nondominant hand were made during baseline and during the 10-min experimental session while subjects attempted to warm their dominant hand. Both groups showed significantly increased skin temperature during the experimental session. No prominent bilateral differences in skin temperature were found. These results do not support bilateral differences as a generalizable construct.