Studies of squeezing: Handedness, responding hand, response force, and asymmetry of readiness potential

Abstract

Eleven subjects squeezed an electronic dynamometer, at each of three force levels, with both their right and left hands. In right-handed subjects the premovement "readiness" potentials were larger over the hemisphere contralateral to the responding hand. Left-handed subjects show contralateral dominance when responding with the right hand but not when responding with the left hand. The data suggest that in the potentials studied there is a component associated with the preparation to perform a specific movement, rather than with generalized preparatory processes.