Hand Coordination

With the help of a video game, researchers show that hand coordination is managed in the brain by appointing one hand the "leader" and the other the assistant.

The study, published in the May 2006 issue of the journal PLoS Biology, demonstrates that one hand takes a dominant role when performing a task. Either hand may take this dominant role depending on the task.

Using a custom made controller, the participants in the study were asked to play a video game. The researchers found that under one set of rules one hand was dominant. When the rules changed however, the other hand took the dominant role.

Also, in motor-control areas of the brain (cortex and cerebellum), the center of activity switched between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere, depending on which hand had the dominant role.

Image: When the rules of a bimanual task changed, the center of activity switched between hemispheres in motor-control areas in the brain's cortex and cerebellum. (Photo: © Inman M.)

Read about this study: Making Hands Jive: How the Body Manages Hand Coordination (PLoS Biology 4(6): e196)