TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Handedness and circadian motor asymmetries in humans: Preliminary findings
JO  - Physiology and behavior
A1  - Natale, Vincenzo
A1  - Lehnkering, Hanna
A1  - Siegmund, Renate
SP  - 322
EP  - 326
VL  - 100
IS  - 4
N2  - Previous research studies indicate that motor activity in the first half of nocturnal sleep is lateralized to the non dominant-hand. It was suggested that such phenomenon may be due to more pronounced homeostatic deactivation of the dominant hemisphere (referring to the hypothesis of the use-dependent recovery function of sleep). If this were the case we should expect a reversed pattern of motor activity asymmetries between right- and left-handed subjects. We tested this hypothesis in an ecological study assessing circadian motor activity in seventeen right- and seventeen left-handed subjects. All subjects wore actigraphs on both left and right wrist for at least twelve consecutive days. In line with previous studies, right-handed subjects showed higher motor activity in the left versus right hand in late evening. We did not however find a reverse pattern of results in left-handed participants. On the whole the results do not seem to support the use-dependent recovery hypothesis, and are suggestive of a different circadian phase relationship between the two hemispheres regardless of handedness.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0031-9384
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.03.006
ID  - ref1
ER  -