Reaction time differences between left- and right-handers during mental rotation of hand pictures

摘要

During mental rotation tasks using hand pictures, right-handers make left-right judgements by mentally rotating their own hand to an orientation of the presented hand image. Although strategy difference for the tasks between left- and right-handers has been suggested, the strategy of left-handers has been incompletely understood. In the present study we compared differences in reaction times between 15 left-handed and 16 right-handed normal individuals during a mental rotation task using simple hand pictures. Participants were required to identify pictures of a hand presented in four orientations (upright, counterclockwise rotated, clockwise rotated, and inverted) as either a right or a left hand. Right-handers recognised a right hand faster than a left hand, whereas no significant difference was seen for left-handers. Both left- and right-handers recognised a right hand faster than a left hand in counterclockwise-rotated images, and recognised a left hand faster than a right hand in clockwise-rotated images. The findings suggest that the differences in the reaction times between left- and right-handers depend on a laterality balance of hand motor skills. During mental rotation task using simple hand pictures, left-handers may mentally simulate their own hand to match the stimulus image as similar to right-handers.View full textDownload full textKeywordsMental rotation, Reaction time, Handedness, Motor simulation, Motor skillRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13576500902938105