Analysis of Control Characteristics between Dominant and Non-Dominant Hands by Transient Responses of Circular Tracking Movements in 3D Virtual Reality Space

Human movement is a controlled result of the sensory-motor system, and the motor control mechanism has been studied through diverse movements. The present study examined control characteristics of dominant and non-dominant hands by analyzing the transient responses of circular tracking movements in 3D virtual reality space. A visual target rotated in a circular trajectory at four different speeds, and 29 participants tracked the target with their hands. The position of each subject’s hand was measured, and the following three parameters were investigated: normalized initial peak velocity (IPV2), initial peak time (IPT2), and time delay (TD2). The IPV2 of both hands decreased as target speed increased. The results of IPT2 revealed that the dominant hand reached its peak velocity 0.0423 s earlier than the non-dominant hand, regardless of target speed. The TD2 of the hands diminished by 0.0218 s on average as target speed increased, but the dominant hand statistically revealed a 0.0417-s shorter TD2 than the non-dominant hand. Velocity-control performances from the IPV2 and IPT2 suggested that an identical internal model controls movement in both hands, whereas the dominant hand is likely more experienced than the non-dominant hand in reacting to neural commands, resulting in better reactivity in the movement task.