Kinematic Analyses of Manual Asymmetries in Visual Aiming Movements

Upper Limb Asymmetries in the Matching of Proprioceptive Versus Visual Targets

“…In support of this conclusion, arm differences have also been demonstrated in the kinematics of visually guided aiming, especially in the case of deceleration duration, a period of time during which on-line corrections in movement trajectory based on visual feedback may occur (Carlton 1981;Elliott et al 1999a;Ma-Wyatt and McKee 2007). In this case, deceleration duration has been found to be shorter for the preferred arm (Boulinguez et al 2001;Elliott et al 1995;Mieschke et al 2001;Roy et al 1994;Todor and Cisneros 1985), suggesting a preferred-arm specialization for the more effective processing of visual feedback. Despite this considerable evidence, however, other possibilities exist.…”

“…It is only during the past three decades, however, that attempts to describe the specific role of vision in determining handedness have been undertaken. Based, in part, on the work of Flowers (1975), preferred-arm advantages for accurately obtaining visual targets of progressively smaller size have most often been attributed to arm differences in the ability to utilize visual feedback for making small corrective movements during the latter stage of reaching (Carson et al 1993;Elliott et al 1995;Mieschke et al 2001;Roy et al 1994;Todor and Cisneros 1985;Todor and Doane 1978;Todor and Kyprie 1980). Indeed, this asymmetry in visual feedback processing has also been inferred from the kinematics of visually guided reaching movements where the amount of time spent post peak velocity-a period of time thought to rely heavily on the use of visual feedback to monitor and correct movement (Carlton 1981;Elliott et al 1999a)-has been shown to be shorter for preferred arm movements (Boulinguez et al 2001;Elliott et al 1995;Mieschke et al 2001;Roy et al 1994;Todor and Cisneros 1985).…”

Interlimb Differences in Control of Movement Extent

“…The idea that the nondominant arm is specialized for feedback-mediated error-correction mechanisms has previously been proposed, although the effects of sensory feedback on dominant and nondominant arm performance have yielded conflicting results (Carson et al 1990(Carson et al , 1995Elliott et al 1994;Flowers 1975a,b;Roy and Elliott 1986;Roy et al 1994;Todor and Cisneros 1985). For example, Flowers (1975a,b) and others (Carson et al 1993a;Todor and Cisneros 1985;Todor and Doane 1977) suggested that manual asymmetries emerge from differences in the use of visual feedback that arise when the precision requirements of aiming tasks become high as reflected by the index of difficulty (ID) (see Plamondon and Alimi 1997).…”

Hemispheric Differences in the Relationship Between Corticomotor Excitability Changes Following a Fine-Motor Task and Motor Learning

“…However, modifications of the reaching phase are likely to be asymmetrical. Behavioral studies consistently report a right arm advantage for the control of intersegmental limb dynamics (Bagesteiro and Sainburg 2002;Goodale 1988;Sainburg 2002) and a relative disadvantage for the left arm when "homing in" on the target (Roy et al 1994). Thus the left arm is likely to complete aiming movements more slowly due to a relative difficulty in accurately terminating the movement.…”