Abstract
Hemispheric asymmetry in hand preference for passive cutaneous perception compared to active haptic perception is not well known. A functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to evaluate the laterality of cortical facilitation when 31 normal right-handed participants were involved in 205 Hz passive vibrotactile cutaneous stimuli on their index fingers of preferred and less-preferred hand. Passive cutaneous perception resulted that preferred (right) hand stimulation was strongly leftward lateralized, whereas less-preferred (left) hand stimulation was less lateralized. This confirms that other manual haptic exploration studies described a higher hemispheric asymmetry in right-handers. Stronger cortical facilitation was found in the right primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and right somatosensory association area (SA) during left-hand stimulation but not right-hand stimulation. This finding suggests that the asymmetric activation in the S1 and SA for less-preferred (left) hand stimulation might contribute to considerably reinforce sensorimotor network just with passive vibrotactile cutaneous stimulation.
Highlights
Hemispheric asymmetry in hand preference for passive cutaneous perception compared to active haptic perception is not well known
These results coincided with other transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies describing a greater degree of hemispheric asymmetry in right-handers, who are typically more strongly lateralized than left-handers[13,14]
The p-values correction based on expected Euler characteristics (EC) using Lipschitz–Killing curvature (LKC) were used for multiple comparisons throughout the mapping imaging a nalysis[26]
Summary
Hemispheric asymmetry in hand preference for passive cutaneous perception compared to active haptic perception is not well known. Passive cutaneous perception resulted that preferred (right) hand stimulation was strongly leftward lateralized, whereas less-preferred (left) hand stimulation was less lateralized This confirms that other manual haptic exploration studies described a higher hemispheric asymmetry in right-handers. The fMRI studies of motor cortical asymmetry for handedness during finger tapping discovered that the more hemispheric asymmetry observed in right-handers who gained more activation in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere during contralateral haptic tasks[10,11]. Left-handers showed no evidence of clear hemispheric asymmetry in relation to the hand used in the task[12] These results coincided with other transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies describing a greater degree of hemispheric asymmetry in right-handers, who are typically more strongly lateralized than left-handers[13,14]. Our functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study of cortical activation for hand preference of right-handers when performing a chopstick manipulation supported that preferred hand showed stronger cortically lateralized than less-preferred hand[15]
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