A lateralized comparison of handedness and object proximity

This study was motivated by the emerging hypothesis that right-handers are more strongly lateralized and perform better on various aspects of functional asymmetry than do left-handers. Right- and left-handers were observed for hand selection responses to a unimanual task of reaching for a small cube in positions of right- and left hemispace, prompting hemispheric decision-making related to hand dominance and attentional (visuospatial) stimuli. As predicted, left-handers did not respond with their preferred limb as consistently across positions as did right-handers. Additional inspection of the task suggests that being lateralized may not be a disadvantage in this context, and that environmental influence may play a significant role in hand selection for a particular motor event.