Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Both right- and left-handers show a bias to attend others’ right arm

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The common-coding hypothesis suggests that the more similar an observed action is to the way the observer would perform it, the stronger is the ensuing activation of motor representations. Therefore, producing actions could prime perception so that observers would be particularly responsive to (i.e. biased to perceive) actions that are related to, and share features with, their own actions. If this similarity principle also applies to handedness, right- and left-handers should be more likely to perceive actions as performed with their dominant rather than non-dominant hand. In two experiments, participants were required to indicate the perceived orientation (front or back view) of pictures of ambiguous human silhouettes performing one-handed manual actions. Experiment 1, in which 300 right-handers and 60 left-handers reported the orientation of a single silhouette seen for as much as they wished, showed that participants perceived the figures more frequently in an orientation congruent with a movement performed with the right rather than the left hand. Experiment 2, in which 12 right-handers and 12 left-handers reported the orientation of 52 silhouettes seen for 300 ms, showed similar results when multiple responses per participant were collected rather than only one. Contrary to our expectations, no difference was observed between right- and left-handers, which might suggest an attentional bias towards the right arm of human bodies in both groups. Moreover, participants were more likely to perceive the figure as front-facing than as back-facing, possibly due to the greater adaptive relevance of approaching compared to receding individuals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abernethy B, Gill DP, Parks SL, Packer ST (2000) Expertise and the perception of kinematic and situational probability information. Perception 30:233–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abernethy B, Zawi K, Jackson RC (2008) Expertise and attunement to kinematic constraints. Perception 37:931–948

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aglioti SM, Cesari P, Romani M, Urgesi C (2008) Action anticipation and motor resonance in elite basketball players. Nat Neurosci 11:1109–1116

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berends HI, Wolkorte R, Ijzerman MJ, van Putten MJAM (2013) Differential cortical activation during observation and observation-and-imagination. Exp Brain Res 229:337–345

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bisiacchi PS, Ripoll H, Stein J, Simonet P, Azemar G (1985) Left-handedness in fencers: an attentional advantage? Percept Mot Skills 61:507–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore S-J, Decety J (2001) From the perception of action to the understanding of intention. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:561–567

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink GR, Fadiga L, Fogassi L, Gallese V, Seitz RJ, Zilles K, Rizzolatti G (2001) Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study. Eur J Neurosci 13:400–404

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grèzes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2005) Action observation and acquired motor skills. Cereb Cortex 15:1243–1249

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Casile A, Giese MA (2006) Non-visual motor learning influences the recognition of biological motion. Curr Biol 16:69–74

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conson M, Mazzarella E, Trojano L (2011) Self-touch affects motor imagery: a study on posture interference effect. Exp Brain Res 215:115–122

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cross ES, Hamilton AF, Grafton ST (2006) Building a motor simulation de novo: observation of dance by dancers. NeuroImage 31:1257–1267

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dassonville P, Zhu X-H, Ugurbil K, Kim S-G, Ashe J (1997) Functional activation in motor cortex reflects the direction and the degree of handedness. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:14015–14018

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doi H, Shinohara K (2012) Bodily movement of approach is detected faster than that of receding. Psychon Bull Rev 19:858–863

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faurie C, Raymond M (2005) Handedness, homicide and negative frequency-dependent selection. Proc Biol Sci 272:25–28

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallese V (2003) The manifold nature of interpersonal relations: the quest for a common mechanism. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 358:517–528

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner M, Potts R (2010) Hand dominance influences the processing of observed bodies. Brain Cogn 73:35–40

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gehlbach H, Barge S (2012) Anchoring and adjusting in questionnaire responses. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 34:417–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentilucci M, Daprati E, Gangitano M (1998) Right-handers and left-handers have different representations of their own hand. Cogn Brain Res 6:185–192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grafton ST, Arbib MA, Fadiga L, Rizzolatti G (1996) Localization of grasp representations in humans by positron emission tomography. 2. Observation compared with imagination. Exp Brain Res 112:103–111

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grèzes J, Decety J (2001) Functional anatomy of execution, mental simulation, observation, and verb generation of actions: a meta-analysis. Hum Brain Mapp 12:1–19

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grèzes J, Armony JL, Rowe J, Passingham RE (2003) Activations related to “mirror” and “canonical” neurones in the human brain: an fMRI study. NeuroImage 18:928–937

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grèzes J, Frith CD, Passingham RE (2004) Inferring false beliefs from the actions of oneself and others: an fMRI study. NeuroImage 21:744–750

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gursoy R (2009) Effects of left- or right-hand preference on the success of boxers in Turkey. Br J Sports Med 43:142–144

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hagemann N (2009) The advantage of being left-handed in interactive sports. Atten Percept Psychophys 71:1641–1648

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heenan A, Troje NF (2014) Both physical exercise and progressive muscle relaxation reduce the facing-the-viewer bias in biological motion perception. PLoS ONE 9:e99902

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hohmann T, Troje NF, Olmos A, Munzert J (2011) The influence of motor expertise and motor experience on action and actor recognition. J Cogn Psychol 23:403–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holtzen DW (2000) Handedness and professional tennis. Int J Neurosci 105:101–119

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel B, Müsseler J, Aschersleben G, Prinz W (2001) The theory of event coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action. Behav Brain Sci 24:849–937

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ionta S, Blanke O (2009) Differential influence of hands posture on mental rotation of hands and feet in right and left handers. Exp Brain Res 195:207–217

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ionta S, Fourkas A, Fiorio M, Aglioti SM (2007) The influence of hands posture on mental rotation of hands and feet. Exp Brain Res 183:1–7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs A, Pinto J, Shiffrar M (2004) Experience, context, and the visual perception of human movement. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 30:822–835

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (2001) Neural simulation of action: a unifying mechanism for motor cognition. NeuroImage 14:S103–S109

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johansson G (1973) Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis. Percept Psychophys 14:201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knoblich G, Flach R (2001) Predicting the effects of actions: interactions of perception and action. Psychol Sci 12:467–472

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knoblich G, Flach R (2003) Action identity: evidence from self-recognition, prediction, and coordination. Conscious Cogn 12:620–632

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knoblich G, Sebanz N (2006) The social nature of perception and action. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 15:99–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loffing F, Schorer J, Hagemann N, Baker J (2012) On the advantage of being left-handed in volleyball: further evidence of the specificity of skilled visual perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 74:446–453

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Macuga KL, Frey SH (2012) Neural representations involved in observed, imagined, and imitated actions are dissociable and hierarchically organized. NeuroImage 59:2798–2807

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marzoli D, Mitaritonna A, Moretto F, Carluccio P, Tommasi L (2011a) The handedness of imagined bodies in action and the role of perspective-taking. Brain Cogn 75:51–59

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marzoli D, Palumbo R, Di Domenico A, Penolazzi B, Garganese P, Tommasi L (2011b) The relation between self-reported empathy and motor identification with imagined agents. PLoS ONE 6:e14595

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marzoli D, Menditto S, Lucafò C, Tommasi L (2013) Imagining others’ handedness: visual and motor processes in the attribution of the dominant hand to an imagined agent. Exp Brain Res 22:37–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marzoli D, Prete G, Tommasi L (2014) Perceptual asymmetries and handedness: a neglected link? Front Psychol 5:163

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McMorris T, Colenso S (1996) Anticipation of professional soccer goalkeepers when facing right- and left-footed penalty kicks. Percept Mot Skills 82:931–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mechelli A, Price CJ, Friston KJ, Ishai A (2004) Where bottom-up meets top-down: neuronal interactions during perception and imagery. Cereb Cortex 14:1256–1265

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Munzert J, Zentgraf K, Stark R, Vaitl D (2008) Neural activation in cognitive motor processes: comparing motor imagery and observation of gymnastic movements. Exp Brain Res 188:437–444

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nì Choisdealbha Á, Brady N, Maguinness C (2011) Differing roles for the dominant and non-dominant hands in the hand laterality task. Exp Brain Res 211:73–85

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons LM (1994) Temporal and kinematic properties of motor behaviour reflected in mentally simulated action. J Exp Psychol Hum 20:709–730

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond M, Pontier D, Dufour AB, Moller AP (1996) Frequency-dependent maintenance of left handedness in humans. Proc Biol Sci 263:1627–1633

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reithler J, van Mier HI, Peters JC, Goebel R (2007) Nonvisual motor learning influences abstract action observation. Curr Biol 17:1201–1207

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Fogassi L, Gallese V (2001) Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:661–670

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salmaso D, Longoni AM (1985) Problems in the assessment of hand preference. Cortex 21:533–549

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schorer J, Loffing F, Hagemann N, Baker J (2012) Human handedness in interactive situations: negative perceptual frequency effects can be reversed! J Sports Sci 30:507–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten B, Troje NF, Brooks A, van der Zwan R, Verfaillie K (2010) The facing bias in biological motion perception: effects of stimulus gender and observer sex. Atten Percept Psychophys 72:1256–1260

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schütz-Bosbach S, Prinz W (2007) Perceptual resonance: action-induced modulation of perception. Trends Cogn Sci 11:349–555

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sebanz N, Shiffrar M (2009) Detecting deception in a bluffing body: the role of expertise. Psychon B Rev 16:170–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solodkin A, Hlustik P, Noll DC, Small SL (2001) Lateralization of motor circuits and handedness during finger movements. Eur J Neurol 8:425–434

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stelzl I (2000) What sample sizes are needed to get correct significance levels for log-linear models? A Monte Carlo study using the SPSS procedure “Hiloglinear”. Methods Psychol Res Online 5:95–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes M, Thompson R, Cusack R, Duncan J (2009) Top-down activation of shape-specific population codes in visual cortex during mental imagery. J Neurosci 29:1565–1572

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szameitat AJ, Shen S, Conforto A, Sterr A (2012) Cortical activation during executed, imagined, observed, and passive wrist movements in healthy volunteers and stroke patients. NeuroImage 62:266–280

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Takeda K, Shimoda N, Sato Y, Ogano M, Kato H (2010) Reaction time differences between left- and right-handers during mental rotation of hand pictures. Laterality 15:415–425

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton IM, Vuong QC, Bülthoff HH (2003) A chimeric point-light walker. Perception 32:377–383

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tversky A, Kahneman D (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases. Science 185:1124–1131

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Cruys S, Schouten B, Wagemans J (2013) An anxiety-induced bias in the perception of a bistable point-light walker. Acta Psychol 144:548–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanrie J, Dekeyser M, Verfaillie K (2004) Bistability and biasing effects in the perception of an ambiguous point-light walker. Perception 33:547–560

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Willems RM, Hagoort P (2009) Hand preference influences neural correlates of action observation. Brain Res 1269:90–104

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Willems RM, Toni I, Hagoort P, Casasanto D (2009) Body-specific motor imagery of hand actions: neural evidence from right-and left-handers. Front Hum Neurosci 3:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willems RM, Hagoort P, Casasanto D (2010) Body-specific representations of action verbs: neural evidence from right- and left-handers. Psychol Sci 21:67–74

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson KE, Jakobson LS, Troje NF (2008) A right-facing bias in the processing of biological motion? J Vis 8:913

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziyagil MA, Gursoy R, Dane Ş, Yuksel R (2010) Left-handed wrestlers are more successful. Percept Mot Skills 111:65–70

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Matteo D’Orazio for his help in collecting data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Humanities and Territory, University of Chieti, Via dei Vestini 29, 66013, Chieti, Italy

    Daniele Marzoli, Alessandra Pagliara, Romina Cappuccio, Alfredo Brancucci & Luca Tommasi

  2. Department of Neurosciences, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University of Chieti, Via dei Vestini 29, 66013, Chieti, Italy

    Chiara Lucafò

Authors
  1. Daniele Marzoli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chiara Lucafò
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alessandra Pagliara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Romina Cappuccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Alfredo Brancucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Luca Tommasi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniele Marzoli.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 1536 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Marzoli, D., Lucafò, C., Pagliara, A. et al. Both right- and left-handers show a bias to attend others’ right arm. Exp Brain Res 233, 415–424 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-4124-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-4124-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation