Asymmetries in Attention toward the Dominant Hand: Input or Output?

Peters (1981) suggested that an asymmetrical bias in attention (toward the right hand of right handers) could account for many manual asymmetries in bimanual task performance. Support for this notion comes from Honda (1982), who demonstrated preferential monitoring of the dominant hand during a bimanual reaching task, while Buckingham and Carey (2007) observed shorter refractory periods (dwell time in a bimanual discontinuous double-step reaching task) for the right hand. Recent evidence may indicate an intentional (i.e. selection related behaviour – motor attention) bias toward the dominant hand (Bestelmeyer & Carey, 2004). The current study tests the hypothesis that the right hand is pre-disposed to perform tasks under conditions of bimanual coordination, by examining movement inhibition and selection in a Posner style hand cueing task