Abstract
In goal-directed movements, effective open-loop control reduces the need for feedback-based corrective submovements. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of hand preference and aging on submovements during single- and two-joint pointing movements. A total of 12 young and 12 older right-handed participants performed pointing movements that involved either elbow extension or a combination of elbow extension and horizontal shoulder flexion with their right and left arms to a target. Kinematics were used to separate the movements into their primary and secondary submovements. The older adults exhibited slower movements, used secondary submovements more often, and produced relatively shorter primary submovements. However, there were no interlimb differences for either age group or for the single- and two-joint movements. These findings indicate that open-loop control is similar between arms but compromised in older compared to younger adults.
Highlights
The preferential use of one hand over the other is seen in most activities of daily living, with the majority of the population preferring to use the right hand to perform skilled tasks such as writing or manipulating objects [1]
Based upon the laterality quotient quotient (LQ) measured from the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, there were no differences between young and older adults in the extent of hand preference (Table 1; p = 0.7)
These relatively high LQ values indicated that both groups were comprised of individuals with a high degree of right-hand preference
Summary
The preferential use of one hand over the other is seen in most activities of daily living, with the majority of the population preferring to use the right hand to perform skilled tasks such as writing or manipulating objects [1] This preferential hand use has a long history and has been attributed to biological, evolutionary, sociological, and environmental factors, which all may contribute to the performance differences between the hands that are often expressed. The non-dominant limb has been shown to be superior at tasks requiring the stabilization of position such as securely holding an object [8,9] This implies that limbs are functionally specialized with complementary but differing control processes, which is the basis of the dynamic-dominance hypothesis of handedness [8,10,11]
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