Abstract
Past studies have suggested important links between valence and perception and action in physical space. The present study aimed to test the associations between emotional valance for words or faces and manual responses in left- and right-handers. We employed a divided output (bimanual) reaction time paradigm in which participants had to discriminate emotional valance of words or faces presented on the center of the screen. The results revealed that right-handers were faster when responding to positive words or faces with their right hand and to negative words or faces with the left hand, whereas left-handers showed the opposite pattern. These results suggest that the association between space and valence depends on handedness, providing further evidence for the body-specificity hypothesis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahern, G. L., & Schwartz, G. E. (1979). Differential lateralization for positive versus negative emotion. Neuropsychologia, 17, 693–698.
Bai, L., Ma, H., Huang, Y. X., & Luo, Y. J. (2005). The development of native Chinese affective picture system: A pretest in 46 college students. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 19, 719–722.
Beilock, S. L., & Holt, L. E. (2007). Embodied preference judgments: Can likeability be driven by the motor system? Psychological Science, 18, 51–57.
Cannon, P. R., Hayes, A. E., & Tipper, S. P. (2010). Sensorimotor fluency influences affect: Evidence from electromyography. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 681–691.
Casasanto, D. (2009). Embodiment of abstract concepts: Good and bad in right- and left-handers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 351–367.
Casasanto, D., & Chrysikou, E. G. (2011). When left is “right”: Motor fluency shapes abstract concepts. Psychological Science, 22, 419–422.
Casasanto, D., & Henetz, T. (2011). Handedness shapes children’s abstract concepts. Cognitive Science, doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01199.x.
Casasanto, D., & Jasmin, K. (2010). Good and bad in the hands of politicians: Spontaneous gestures during positive and negative speech. PLoS One, 5, e11805.
De la Vega, I., De Filippis, M., Lachmair, M., Dudschig, C., & Kaup, B. (2012). Emotional valence and physical space: Limits of interaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38, 375–385.
Everhart, D. E., Harrison, D. W., & Crews, W. D. (1996). Hemispheric asymmetry as a function of handedness: Perception of facial affect stimuli. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82, 264–266.
Kong, F., & You, X. (2012). Space-time compatibility effects in the auditory modality. Experimental Psychology, 59, 82–87.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Masson, E. J., & Loftus, G. R. (2003). Using confidence intervals for graphically based data interpretation. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57, 203–220.
McFarland, R., & Kennison, R. (1989). Handedness affects emotional valence asymmetry. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 68, 435–441.
Natale, M., Gur, R. E., & Gur, R. C. (1983). Hemispheric asymmetries in processing emotional expressions. Neuropsychologia, 21, 555–565.
Oldfield, R. C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97–113.
Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). The secret life of fluency. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12, 237–241.
Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., & Davidson, R. J. (1981). Differential contributions of the two cerebral hemispheres to the perception of happy and sad faces. Neuropsychologia, 19, 609–613.
Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., Givis, R. P., & Moscovitch, M. (1983). Hemispheric specialization and the perception of emotion: Evidence from right-handers and from inverted and non-inverted left-handers. Neuropsychologia, 21, 687–692.
Rodway, P., Wright, L., & Hardie, S. (2003). The valence-specific laterality effect in free viewing conditions: The influence of sex, handedness, and response bias. Brain and Cognition, 53, 452–463.
Root, J. C., Wong, P. S., & Kinsbourne, M. (2006). Left hemisphere specialization for response to positive emotional expressions: A divided output methodology. Emotion, 6, 473–483.
Schneider, W., Eschman, A., & Zuccolotto, A. (2002). E-Prime user’s guide. Pittsburgh: Psychology Software Tools Inc.
Van Strien, J. W., & Van Beek, S. (2000). Ratings of emotion in laterally presented faces: Sex and handedness effects. Brain and Cognition, 44, 645–652.
Willems, R. M., Hagoort, P., & Casasanto, D. (2010). Body-specific representations of action verbs: Neural evidence from right- and left-handers. Psychological Science, 21, 67–74.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kong, F. Space–valence associations depend on handedness: evidence from a bimanual output task. Psychological Research 77, 773–779 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0471-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0471-7