Verbal-to-manual and manual-to-verbal dual-task interference in left-handed and right-handed adults.
Verbal-manual interference was investigated with 80 students who were divided into four groups by sex and hand preference. Unilateral finger-tapping was measured during no-load conditions and during two concurrent tasks of word reading (aloud) and sentence reading (silent). During concurrent tasks, no selective interference effects for the preferred hand were found; however, when participants were classified according to consistent handedness instead of hand preference, consistent right-handers exhibited selective right-hand tapping interference during concurrent word reading, whereas consistent left-handers showed generalized interference. During concurrent sentence reading, men showed selective right-hand interference, irrespective of handedness. The influence of tapping on word reading was also examined. Concurrent tapping lowered word-reading performance substantially, showing that finger-tapping and word reading interfered reciprocally.
Van Hoof
K
K
Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jw.van.strien@psy.vu.nl
Van Strien
J W
JW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012737:Sex Factors; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*