Evaluation of learning of asymmetrical bimanual tasks and transfer to converse pattern: Load, temporal and spatial asymmetry of hand movements

Background: In most daily activities, we are required to use both hands. In many motor skills like playing guitar, the left and right hand must perform asymmetric movements with different timing. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of learning in various asymmetrical bimanual tasks and to evaluate the transfer to tasks with converse hand movements. Methods: Thirty right-handed male students (age 21.5 ± 1.3 years) who had no motor disorders were divided into three groups. Participants of each group were trained for four days after a pretest. All participants performed asymmetrical bimanual drawing of a circle with each hand. Participants in the first group differed in terms of load in each hand, those in the second group differed in the speed of hand movement and those in the third group differed in the range of motion. The test was carried out in simultaneous bimanual movement both as practiced (learning acquisition test) and substitution of patterns between the two hands (transfer test). To analyze the data, repeated measures analysis of variance was performed. Results: For the acquisition test, significant differences were found between the results of the pretest, the posttest, and the retention test across all three groups. In terms of the transfer test, the first group showed a significantly better performance than their performance on the acquisition (p = .001). No such differences were found between the performance of the second group on the two tests (p = .945). Finally, the third group performed significantly better on the transfer test than on the acquisition test. (p = .047). Conclusions: The present study found similar effects of motor learning on various asymmetrical bimanual motor tasks, but different inter-group performance on learning and transfer tasks.