Abstract
Recent behavioral and brain imaging data indicate that performance on explicit tests of episodic memory is associated with interaction between the left and right cerebral hemispheres, in contrast with the unihemispheric basis for implicit tests of memory. In the present work, individual differences in strength of personal handedness were used as markers for differences in hemispheric communication, with mixed-handers inferred to have increased interhemispheric interaction relative to strong right-handers. In Experiment 1, memory for words was assessed via recall or word fragment completion. In Experiment 2, memory for real-world events was assessed via recall. Results supported the hypothesis, in that mixed-handers displayed better episodic memory in comparison with strong right-handers.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bakan, P., &Svorad, D. (1969). Resting EEG alpha and asymmetry of reflective lateral eye movements.Nature,223, 975–976.
Barnett, K. J., &Corballis, M. C. (2002). Ambidexterity and magical ideation.Laterality,7, 75–84.
Burke, H. L., &Yeo, R. A. (1994). Systematic variations in callosal morphology: The effects of age, gender, hand preference, and anatomic asymmetry.Neuropsychology,8, 563–571.
Burnett, S. A., Lane, D. M., &Dratt, L. M. (1982). Spatial ability and handedness.Intelligence,6, 57–68.
Cabeza, R., &Nyberg, L. (2000). Imaging cognition II: An empirical review of 275 PET and fMRI studies.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,12, 1–47.
Christman, S. [D.] (1993). Handedness in musicians: Bimanual constraints on performance.Brain & Cognition,22, 266–272.
Christman, S. [D.] (1995). Independence versus integration of right and left hemisphere processing: Effects of handedness. In F. L. Kitterle (Ed.),Hemispheric communication: Mechanisms and models (pp. 231–253). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Christman, S. D. (2001). Individual differences in Stroop and local— global processing: A possible role of interhemispheric interaction.Brain & Cognition,45, 97–118.
Christman, S. D., Garvey, K. J., Propper, R. E., &Phaneuf, K. A. (2003). Bilateral eye movements enhance the retrieval of episodic memories.Neuropsychology,17, 221–229.
Christman, S. D., &Propper, R. E. (2001). Superior episodic memory is associated with interhemispheric processing.Neuropsychology,15, 607–616.
Christman, S. D., Propper, R. E., &Dion, A. (2004). Increasing interhemispheric interaction is associated with decreased false memories in a verbal converging semantic associates paradigm.Brain & Cognition,56, 313–319.
Chute, D. L. (1994). Reaction time. InMacLaboratory for psychology (Version 3.0.2) [CD-ROM]. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Clarke, J. M., &Zaidel, E. (1994). Anatomical—behavioral relationships: Corpus callosum morphometry and hemispheric specialization.Behavioural Brain Research,64, 185–202.
Cowell, P. E., Allen, L. S., Kertesz, A., Zalatimo, N. S., &Denenberg, V. H. (1994). Human corpus callosum: A stable mathematical model of regional neuroanatomy.Brain & Cognition,25, 52–66.
Cronin-Golomb, A. (1986). Figure—background perception in right and left hemispheres of human commissurotomy subjects.Perception,15, 95–109.
Cronin-Golomb, A., Gabrieli, J. D. E., &Keane, M. M. (1996). Implicit and explicit memory retrieval within and across the disconnected cerebral hemispheres.Neuropsychology,10, 254–262.
Dimond, S., &Beaumont, G. (1972). Hemisphere function and color naming.Journal of Experimental Psychology,96, 87–91.
Fabiani, M., Stadler, M. A., &Wessels, P. M. (2000). True but not false memories produce a sensory signature in human lateralized brain potentials.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,12, 941–949.
Gardiner, J. M. (1988). Functional aspects of recollective experience.Memory & Cognition,16, 309–313.
Gorynia, I., &Egenter, D. (2000). Intermanual coordination in relation to handedness, familial sinistrality and lateral preferences.Cortex,36, 1–18.
Graf, P., &Mandler, G. (1984). Activation makes words more accessible, but not necessarily more retrievable.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 553–568.
Habib, M., Gayraud, D., Olivia, A., Regis, J., Salamon, G., &Khalil, R. (1991). Effects of handedness and sex on the morphology of the corpus callosum: A study with brain magnetic resonance imaging.Brain & Cognition,16, 41–61.
Hellige, J. B. (1993).Hemispheric asymmetry: What’s right and what’s left. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Honda, T. (1982). Effects of handedness on the inhibition of reaction time in double stimulation situations.Japanese Psychological Research,24, 43–47.
Kertesz, A., Polk, M., Howell, J., &Black, S. (1987). Cerebral dominance, sex, and callosal size in MRI.Neurology,37, 1385–1388.
Marino, M. F., &McKeever, W. F. (1989). Spatial processing laterality and spatial visualization ability: Relations to sex and familial sinistrality variables.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,27, 135–137.
McKeever, W. F. (1990). Familial sinistrality and cerebral dominance. In C. Coren (Ed.),Left-handedness: Behavioral implications and anomalies. New York: Elsevier.
McKeever, W. F., &Hoff, A. L. (1983). Further evidence of the absence of measurable interhemispheric transfer time in left-handers who employ an inverted handwriting posture.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,21, 255–258.
McKeever, W. F., Van Deventer, A. D., &Suberi, M. (1973). Avowed, assessed, and familial handedness and differential hemispheric processing of brief sequential and non-sequential visual stimuli.Neuropsychologia,11, 235–238.
Moscovitch, M., &Smith, L. C. (1979). Differences in neural organization between individuals with inverted and noninverted handwriting postures.Science,205, 710–713.
Niebauer, C. L. (2004). Handedness and the fringe of consciousness: Strong handers ruminate while mixed handers self-reflect.Consciousness & Cognition,13, 730–745.
Niebauer, C. L., &Garvey, K., (2004). Gödel, Escher and degree of handedness: Differences in interhemispheric interaction predict differences in understanding self-reference.Laterality,9, 19–34.
Oldfield, R. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory.Neuropsychologia,9, 97–113.
Ornstein, R. E. (1997).The right mind: Making sense of the hemispheres. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Ponton, C. W. (1987). Enhanced articulatory speed in ambidexters.Neuropsychologia,25, 305–311.
Porac, C. (1993). Hand preference and the incidence of unilateral hand injury.Neuropsychologia,31, 355–362.
Potter, S., &Graves, R. (1988). Is interhemispheric transfer related to handedness and gender?Neuropsychologia,26, 319–325.
Propper, R. E., &Christman, S. D. (2004). Mixed- versus strong right-handedness is associated with biases towards “remember” versus “know” judgements in recognition memory: Role of interhemispheric interaction.Memory,12, 707–714.
Schacter, D. L., Buckner, R. L., Koutstaal, W., Dale, A. M., &Rosen, B. R. (1997). Late onset of anterior prefrontal activity during true and false recognition: An event-related fMRI study.NeuroImage,6, 259–269.
Schacter, D. L., Curran, T., Yun, L. S., Bandy, D., McDermott, K. B., &Roediger, H. L., III (1996). Neuroanatomical correlates of veridical and illusory recognition memory: Evidence from positron emission tomography.Neuron,17, 267–274.
Shimamura, A. P. (2002). Memory retrieval and executive control processes. In D. T. Stuss & R. T. Knight (Eds.),Principles of frontal lobe function (pp. 210–220). New York: Oxford University Press.
Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness.Canadian Psychologist,26, 1–12.
Tulving, E. (1986). What kind of a hypothesis is the distinction between episodic and semantic memory?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,12, 307–311.
Tulving, E., Kapur, S., Craik, F. I. M., Moscovitch, M., &Houle, S. (1994). Hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry in episodic memory: Positron emission tomography findings.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,91, 2016–2020.
Tulving, E., Schacter, D. L., &Stark, H. A. (1982). Priming effects in word-fragment completion are independent of recognition memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,8, 336–342.
Verillo, R. (1983). Vibrotactile subjective magnitude as a function of hand preference.Neuropsychologia,21, 383–395.
Witelson, S. F. (1985). The brain connection: The corpus callosum is larger in left-handers.Science,229, 665–668.
Witelson, S. F. (1989). Hand and sex differences in the isthmus and genu of the human corpus callosum: A postmortem morphological study.Brain,112, 799–835.
Zaidel, D. W. (1995). Separated hemispheres, separated memories: Lessons on long-term memory from split-brain patients. In R. Campbell & M. A. Conway (Eds.),Broken memories: Case studies in memory impairment (pp. 213–224). Oxford: Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
K.A.P. is now at George Washington University. Preliminary reports from this research were presented at the annual meetings of the International Neuropsychological Society (Honolulu, February 2003) and the Psychonomic Society (Vancouver, BC, November 2003).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Propper, R.E., Christman, S.D. & Phaneuf, K.A. A mixed-handed advantage in episodic memory: A possible role of interhemispheric interaction. Mem Cogn 33, 751–757 (2005). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195341
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195341