Asymmetries in intermanual transfer of maze learning in right- and left-handed adults

Abstract

This study examined asymmetries in transfer learning on a finger maze as a function of handedness, hand at acquisition and maze orientation at transfer. In both handedness groups, right-hand acquisition enhanced opposite hand performance on an identical and a vertically reversed maze at transfer, relative to a mirror-reversed maze; left-hand acquisition, in turn, enhanced opposite hand transfer on the spatially reversed mazes relative to the identical maze. The findings suggest that different strategies (i.e. verbal versus spatial/motoric) come into play in maze learning depending on the hand used at acquisition (right versus left, respectively) rather than on overall hand dominance.