title: Laterality effects for tactile patterns.
abstract: A series of studies was carried out to investigate laterality effects in the discrimination of tactile patterns presented to the fingertips of right-handed subjects. When both hands were stimulated simultaneously, a small right-hand advantage (RHA) was observed for a sequential task and a small left-hand advantage (LHA) was found for a spatial task, but only in women and only when there was a delay or mask between presentation and response. This may indicate different attentional strategies for men and women, or better shielding against interhemispheric interference in women. When only one hand was stimulated at a time (unimanual tasks), no laterality effects were found with sequential tasks, but a substantial RHA for a spatial task was observed. Because the unimanual spatial task involves more possible alternatives than the unimanual sequential ones, this RHA may be a consequence of increased information load rather than a the spatial/sequential distinction. While laterality effects in tactile laterality studies are relatively inconsistent, there are clear differences between bimanual and unimanual presentation. Effects related to hemispheric specialization are much more evident with bilateral presentation.
authors.affiliation: Shinwa Women's College, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kay
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bryden
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Free
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*