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Degree of handedness affects intermanual transfer of skill learning

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Abstract

Intermanual transfer of skill learning has often been used as a paradigm to study functional specialization and hemispheric interactions in relation to handedness. This literature has not evaluated whether degree of handedness impacts learning and intermanual transfer. Because handedness scores are related to factors that might influence intermanual transfer, such as engagement of the ipsilateral hemisphere during movement (Dassonville et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:14015–14018, 1997) and corpus callosum volume (Witelson in Science 229:665–668, 1985; Brain 112:799–835, 1989), we tested whether degree of handedness is correlated with transfer magnitude. We had groups of left and right handed participants perform a sensorimotor adaptation task and a sequence learning task. Following learning with either the dominant or nondominant hand, participants transferred to task performance with the other hand. We evaluated whether the magnitude of learning and intermanual transfer were influenced by either direction and/or degree of handedness. Participants exhibited faster sensorimotor adaptation with the right hand, regardless of whether they were right or left handed. In addition, less strongly left handed individuals exhibited better intermanual transfer of sensorimotor adaptation, while less strongly right handed individuals exhibited better intermanual transfer of sequence learning. The findings suggest that involvement of the ipsilateral hemisphere during learning may influence intermanual transfer magnitude.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a UROP Summer Biomedical Research Fellowship (CC), NIH AG20883 (RS), and NIH AG24106 (RS). We thank our colleagues in the Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory and Daniel Goble for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. Division of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2214, USA

    Cori Chase & Rachael Seidler

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1109, USA

    Rachael Seidler

  3. 401 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2214, USA

    Rachael Seidler

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  1. Cori Chase
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Correspondence to Rachael Seidler.

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Chase, C., Seidler, R. Degree of handedness affects intermanual transfer of skill learning. Exp Brain Res 190, 317–328 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1472-z

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