Manual asymmetry in older adults on a complex coincidence-anticipation task

ABSTRACT

Age-related asymmetrical functional decline was tested in a sample of 57 right-handed volunteers between 65 and 85 years of age. Participants performed a complex coincidence-anticipation (CA) task with both preferred and non-preferred hands. Results demonstrated that the proficiency of a complex CA task was similar for the 2 age groups, but different for the 2 hands. The non-preferred hand was more proficient for temporal accuracy but not for response timing, which was similar for both hands. Moreover, the lack of interaction between age and hand both in response timing and response accuracy reveal symmetric performance across ages.

KEYWORDS:

• Manual asymmetry
• aging
• coincidence-anticipation
• asymmetrical aging decline
• right-handers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [grant number SFRH/BD/28011/2006].