Lateralized interference in finger tapping: Comparisons of rate and variability measures under speed and consistency tapping instructions

Dual-Task Paradigm Reveals Variation in Left Hemisphere Involvement in Verbal Processing Across the Menstrual Cycle in Normally Cycling Women

“…Surprisingly, however, the current study also revealed that during both menstrual cycle phases, lateralized tapping interference implicating left hemisphere specialization was observed only for the silent condition; in contrast, levels of finger-tapping interference while solving anagrams aloud were similar across both hands, suggesting more bilateral hemispheric involvement with the added verbal component while solving anagrams. This current finding partially contrasts with prior studies showing lateralized tapping interference for both the silent and aloud anagrams conditions (Kee et al., 1983; Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986). The disparate results may be explained by differences in perception of task difficulty, in overall cognitive performance, and/or the inclusion of male subjects in prior studies.…”

“…Thus, similar levels of right- and left-hand finger-tapping interference during the aloud condition may have reflected a necessary recruitment of bilateral hemispheric processing during the more complex aloud verbal task, whereas the less demanding task of solving anagrams silently relied predominantly on the left hemisphere. In addition, unlike prior studies (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986), the current study revealed a small improvement in anagrams performance in the aloud condition compared to the silent condition, which may suggest a small dual-task trade-off where bilateral cortical resources were overallocated to the anagrams task at a small cost to finger-tapping performance (Plummer & Eskes, 2015).…”

“…Instead, finger-tapping interference results indicated that the pattern of tapping interference observed, while concurrently solving anagrams silently or aloud did not vary across the midluteal and menses phases. For both phases, greater overall finger-tapping interference was observed when anagrams were solved aloud than when anagrams were solved silently, which is consistent with previous dual-task studies demonstrating an increase in tapping interference (and thus an overall increase in utilization of cortical resources) when verbal production is required while solving anagrams (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986).…”

Dual-Task Paradigm Reveals Variation in Left Hemisphere Involvement in Verbal Processing Across the Menstrual Cycle in Normally Cycling Women

“…Surprisingly, however, the current study also revealed that during both menstrual cycle phases, lateralized tapping interference implicating left hemisphere specialization was observed only for the silent condition; in contrast, levels of finger-tapping interference while solving anagrams aloud were similar across both hands, suggesting more bilateral hemispheric involvement with the added verbal component while solving anagrams. This current finding partially contrasts with prior studies showing lateralized tapping interference for both the silent and aloud anagrams conditions (Kee et al., 1983; Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986). The disparate results may be explained by differences in perception of task difficulty, in overall cognitive performance, and/or the inclusion of male subjects in prior studies.…”

“…Thus, similar levels of right- and left-hand finger-tapping interference during the aloud condition may have reflected a necessary recruitment of bilateral hemispheric processing during the more complex aloud verbal task, whereas the less demanding task of solving anagrams silently relied predominantly on the left hemisphere. In addition, unlike prior studies (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986), the current study revealed a small improvement in anagrams performance in the aloud condition compared to the silent condition, which may suggest a small dual-task trade-off where bilateral cortical resources were overallocated to the anagrams task at a small cost to finger-tapping performance (Plummer & Eskes, 2015).…”

“…Instead, finger-tapping interference results indicated that the pattern of tapping interference observed, while concurrently solving anagrams silently or aloud did not vary across the midluteal and menses phases. For both phases, greater overall finger-tapping interference was observed when anagrams were solved aloud than when anagrams were solved silently, which is consistent with previous dual-task studies demonstrating an increase in tapping interference (and thus an overall increase in utilization of cortical resources) when verbal production is required while solving anagrams (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986).…”

Hemispheric Specialization for Reading

“…In contrast, disruption during oral reading occurred only when participants tapped with their left finger. This was contrary to expectation (see Kee, Morris, Bathurst, & Hellige, 1986;Todor & Kyprie, 1980) and suggests that the right hemisphere may be involved in the temporal regulation of speech. That is, increased variability during dualtask performance may be ascribed to disruption in the timing of neural processes that control the integration of speech and motor activity (Kelso, Tuller, & Harris, 1983).…”

Motor and executive control in repetitive timing of brief intervals.

“…Our results provide at most marginal support for direct executive control of brief interval timing, but previous studies appear to support executive control in similar time production and interference tasks (Brown, 1997;Hiscock et al, 1989;Kee et al, 1986;McFarland & Ashton, 1978;Sergent et al, 1993). How can this difference be explained?…”

Dual-Task Paradigm Reveals Variation in Left Hemisphere Involvement in Verbal Processing Across the Menstrual Cycle in Normally Cycling Women

“…Surprisingly, however, the current study also revealed that during both menstrual cycle phases, lateralized tapping interference implicating left hemisphere specialization was observed only for the silent condition; in contrast, levels of finger-tapping interference while solving anagrams aloud were similar across both hands, suggesting more bilateral hemispheric involvement with the added verbal component while solving anagrams. This current finding partially contrasts with prior studies showing lateralized tapping interference for both the silent and aloud anagrams conditions (Kee et al., 1983; Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986). The disparate results may be explained by differences in perception of task difficulty, in overall cognitive performance, and/or the inclusion of male subjects in prior studies.…”

“…Thus, similar levels of right- and left-hand finger-tapping interference during the aloud condition may have reflected a necessary recruitment of bilateral hemispheric processing during the more complex aloud verbal task, whereas the less demanding task of solving anagrams silently relied predominantly on the left hemisphere. In addition, unlike prior studies (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986), the current study revealed a small improvement in anagrams performance in the aloud condition compared to the silent condition, which may suggest a small dual-task trade-off where bilateral cortical resources were overallocated to the anagrams task at a small cost to finger-tapping performance (Plummer & Eskes, 2015).…”

“…Instead, finger-tapping interference results indicated that the pattern of tapping interference observed, while concurrently solving anagrams silently or aloud did not vary across the midluteal and menses phases. For both phases, greater overall finger-tapping interference was observed when anagrams were solved aloud than when anagrams were solved silently, which is consistent with previous dual-task studies demonstrating an increase in tapping interference (and thus an overall increase in utilization of cortical resources) when verbal production is required while solving anagrams (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986).…”

Hemispheric Specialization for Reading

“…In contrast, disruption during oral reading occurred only when participants tapped with their left finger. This was contrary to expectation (see Kee, Morris, Bathurst, & Hellige, 1986;Todor & Kyprie, 1980) and suggests that the right hemisphere may be involved in the temporal regulation of speech. That is, increased variability during dualtask performance may be ascribed to disruption in the timing of neural processes that control the integration of speech and motor activity (Kelso, Tuller, & Harris, 1983).…”

Motor and executive control in repetitive timing of brief intervals.

“…Our results provide at most marginal support for direct executive control of brief interval timing, but previous studies appear to support executive control in similar time production and interference tasks (Brown, 1997;Hiscock et al, 1989;Kee et al, 1986;McFarland & Ashton, 1978;Sergent et al, 1993). How can this difference be explained?…”

Dual-Task Paradigm Reveals Variation in Left Hemisphere Involvement in Verbal Processing Across the Menstrual Cycle in Normally Cycling Women

“…Surprisingly, however, the current study also revealed that during both menstrual cycle phases, lateralized tapping interference implicating left hemisphere specialization was observed only for the silent condition; in contrast, levels of finger-tapping interference while solving anagrams aloud were similar across both hands, suggesting more bilateral hemispheric involvement with the added verbal component while solving anagrams. This current finding partially contrasts with prior studies showing lateralized tapping interference for both the silent and aloud anagrams conditions (Kee et al., 1983; Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986). The disparate results may be explained by differences in perception of task difficulty, in overall cognitive performance, and/or the inclusion of male subjects in prior studies.…”

“…Thus, similar levels of right- and left-hand finger-tapping interference during the aloud condition may have reflected a necessary recruitment of bilateral hemispheric processing during the more complex aloud verbal task, whereas the less demanding task of solving anagrams silently relied predominantly on the left hemisphere. In addition, unlike prior studies (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986), the current study revealed a small improvement in anagrams performance in the aloud condition compared to the silent condition, which may suggest a small dual-task trade-off where bilateral cortical resources were overallocated to the anagrams task at a small cost to finger-tapping performance (Plummer & Eskes, 2015).…”

“…Instead, finger-tapping interference results indicated that the pattern of tapping interference observed, while concurrently solving anagrams silently or aloud did not vary across the midluteal and menses phases. For both phases, greater overall finger-tapping interference was observed when anagrams were solved aloud than when anagrams were solved silently, which is consistent with previous dual-task studies demonstrating an increase in tapping interference (and thus an overall increase in utilization of cortical resources) when verbal production is required while solving anagrams (Kee & Cherry, 1990; Kee et al., 1986).…”

Hemispheric Specialization for Reading

“…In contrast, disruption during oral reading occurred only when participants tapped with their left finger. This was contrary to expectation (see Kee, Morris, Bathurst, & Hellige, 1986;Todor & Kyprie, 1980) and suggests that the right hemisphere may be involved in the temporal regulation of speech. That is, increased variability during dualtask performance may be ascribed to disruption in the timing of neural processes that control the integration of speech and motor activity (Kelso, Tuller, & Harris, 1983).…”

Motor and executive control in repetitive timing of brief intervals.

“…Our results provide at most marginal support for direct executive control of brief interval timing, but previous studies appear to support executive control in similar time production and interference tasks (Brown, 1997;Hiscock et al, 1989;Kee et al, 1986;McFarland & Ashton, 1978;Sergent et al, 1993). How can this difference be explained?…”