Hemispheric interactions are different in left-handed individuals.

Abstract

In a previous study, N. Cherbuin and C. Brinkman (2006) showed that in right-handed participants, interhemispheric transfer time (measured with A. T. Poffenberger's, 1912, paradigm) was a significant predictor of the efficiency of hemispheric interactions (measured with a split visual field, letter-matching task). No effect was found for degree of handedness in this study. This was surprising because handedness has been shown to be associated with differences in the morphology and the structure of the corpus callosum, and cerebral anatomical lateralization, as well as functional lateralization both in behavioral and scanning studies. Because these findings were found in a large sample, but one limited to right-handed participants, the aim of the present study was to determine whether a similar relationship was present between interhemispheric transfer time and hemispheric interaction in left-handed participants (using identical measures) and to assess whether the analysis of a larger sample that comprised both left- and right-handed participants might reveal an effect of handedness. Results demonstrate significant handedness effects, suggesting that left-handed individuals tend to have more efficient hemispheric interactions.