Making Hands Jive: How the Body Manages Hand Coordination
2006
How a Lateralized Brain Supports Symmetrical Bimanual Tasks
Sample size: 37
publication
Evidence: moderate
Author Information
Author(s): Roland S. Johansson
Hypothesis
Can people flexibly switch hand dominance based on the rules of a task?
Conclusion
The study shows that people can quickly switch hand dominance depending on the task rules, with one hand acting as the leader and the other as a supporter.
Supporting Evidence
- Participants could quickly switch which hand was dominant based on the rules of the game.
- The dominant hand's muscles were stiffer and contracted at a higher rate compared to the supporting hand.
- fMRI showed that brain activity switched between hemispheres depending on the task rules.
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation revealed increased activity in the corticospinal pathways for the dominant hand.
Takeaway
When doing tasks with both hands, one hand usually takes charge, but people can easily switch which hand is in charge based on what they need to do.
Methodology
Participants played a video game that required coordination between their hands while using a custom controller.
Participant Demographics
All participants were right-handers.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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