The role of impulse variability in manual-aiming asymmetries

✍ Scribed by Richard G. Carson; Digby Elliott; David Goodman; Linda Thyer; Romeo Chua; Eric A. Roy

• Publisher: Guilford Publishing Inc
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 915 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0340-0727
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00419689

✦ Synopsis

Two experiments are reported in which we examined the hypothesis that the advantage of the right hand in target aiming arises from differences in impulse variability. Subjects made aiming movements with the left and fight hands. The force requirements of the movements were manipulated through the addition of mass to the limb (Experiments 1 and 2) and through control of movement amplitude (Experiment 1). Although the addition of mass diminished performance (i. e., it increased movement times in Experiment 1 and increased error in Experiment 2), the two hands were not differently affected by the manipulation of required force. In spite of the fact that the fight hand exhibited enhanced performance (i. e., lower movement times in Experiment 1 and greater accuracy in Experiment 2), these advantages were not reflected in kinematic measures of impulse variability.