title: Reaction time differences between left- and right-handers during mental rotation of hand pictures.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: International University of Health and Welfare Hospital, Nasushiobara, Tochigi.
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Misao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogano
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult