Effects of concurrent hemisphere-specific activity on unimanual tapping rate

Generalized and lateralized interference between concurrent tasks performed by children: Effects of age, sex, and skill

“…Of particular interest is the finding that silent reading causes asymmetric interference, for this has not been shown previously in children. It has been found that silent reading disrupts right-hand performance more than left-hand performance in normal adults, although it is not clear whether the asymmetry is as great as when vocalization is required (Bowers, Heilman, Satz, & Altman, 1978;Heilige & Longstreth, 1981). In the present study, the hand effect for the silent-reading task was smaller than that for the reading-aloud task (estimated OJ 2 = .20 and .39, respectively).…”

“…Similarly, recitation of the tongue twister decreased tapping rate by 27%, compared with the 6%-8% reduction for the line-orientation task. Comparison of tasks with and without vocalization has yielded similar, but somewhat weaker, differenees in adults (Heilige & Longstreth, 1981;Hicks, Provenzano, & Rybstein, 1975).…”

Hemispheric Specialization for Reading

“…Oral reading and speaking in general (Dalby, 1980;Hellige & Longstreth, 1981;Hiscock, Antoniuk, Prisciak, & von Hessert, 1985;Hiscock, Cheesman, Inch, Chipuer, & Graf, 1989;Singh, 1989) have been well established since the first experiments by Kinsbourne and Cook (1971) and Hicks (1975) as activities that interfere with the right hand more than the left. The left hemisphere typically controls speech production and distal movements of the right hand and the right hemisphere controls distal activity of the left hand.…”

On the Interaction of Concurrent Verbal and Manual Tasks: Which Initial Task Conditions Produce Interference?

“…Right-handed individuals typically demonstrate a greater interference with right-hand performance than left-hand performance (e.g., Hellige & Longstreth, 1981;Kee, Bathurst, & Hellige, 1983;Kinsboume & Cook, 1971). According to the cerebral functional distance theory of Kinsbourne and Hicks (1978), the brain centers for controlling speech and the right hand are more likely to have neural crosstalk and thus produce interference because they reside in the same hemisphere.…”