Attentional biases in hand movements: Asymmetries in the refractory period following bimanual reaching

Gavin Buckingham, School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen

Abstract
While both left hand right hands no doubt share a degree of coupling (e.g. Kelso et al. 1979), there is clear empirical evidence for a right hand performance bias in 90% of the population (Goodale, 1990). It has been suggested that a preferential allocation of attention toward the dominant right hand may be at least partially responsible for this asymmetry (Honda, 1892; Peters, 1981), especially under bimanual conditions. In a series of studies, participants performed bimanual reaches to target pairs, followed by a unimanual reach to a latterly appearing target in the form of a discontinuous double step. It was predicted that an asymmetrical attentional bias would manifest in the form of a longer refractory period between the landing of the first (bimanual) movement and the onset of the second (unimanual) movement. The final study uses a hand pre-cueing technique to investigate the roles of motor attention (intention) compared to visual-spatial attention. Results are discussed in relation to input versus output biases and the generalisablity of the attentional model to different tasks.

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