The laterality of stop and go processes of the motor response in left-handed and right-handed individuals

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe objective of the present study was to investigate whether the stop and go processes of the motor response are asymmetrical and whether the asymmetries are dependent on handedness and the response selection process that is engaged. Both right-handed and left-handed participants abducted either the left or right index finger in response to an imperative cue in the choice reaction time (choice RT) or the simple RT task. A stop cue was presented after the imperative cue with a probability of .25. When the stop cue was presented, the participants withheld the prepared response. On the choice RT task, left-handed participants had significantly shorter RT and stop signal reaction time (SSRT) with the left versus the right hand, whereas right-handers showed no difference between hands on either measure. In the simple RT task, the RT and SSRT were not significantly different between the groups or the response sides. These results indicate that both the stop and go processes of the prepared left-hand response are completed earlier than those of the right-hand response in left-handed individuals when the stimulus-response process involves a response selection process.