Cerebral organization of verbal and motor functions in left-handed and right-handed adults: effects of concurrent verbal tasks on unimanual tapping performance.

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to study the interference effects of different concurrent verbal tasks on unimanual single-finger tapping and unimanual sequential finger tapping. Experiment 1 involved 24 right-handed university students. In the dual-task conditions, right-handers showed a greater right-hand than left-hand performance reduction for single-finger tapping, and an equal right-hand and left-hand reduction for sequential tapping. Experiment 2 involved 60 left-handed university students, divided into four groups according to familial sinistrality and writing hand posture. In the dual-task conditions, left-handers showed a greater left-hand than right-hand performance reduction for single-finger tapping, and an equal left-hand and right-hand reduction for sequential finger tapping. A dichotic listening task revealed a left hemispheric dominance for auditory linguistic functioning in most of the left-handers. Familial sinistrality and hand posture, on the whole, did not influence tapping performances. However, these factors influenced the ear asymmetries on the dichotic listening task. It is speculated that, with single-finger tapping, interference only takes place beyond the point of language motor programming, that is to say, at the motor areas and the supplementary motor areas of the cortex.