About the Project
When shown a picture of a hand and asked to judge its laterality (i.e. is it a left or right hand?), we mentally manoeuvre our own limb to the same orientation as that depicted in order to make a correct judgement. We adopt this strategy despite not being asked to do so explicitly and often may not be aware how we have determined our response. Consequently, the Hand Laterality Recognition Task (HLRT) is considered a robust example of implicit motor imagery. The HLRT has a long history of use in cognitive psychology and neuroscience as a means of exploring motor imagery and its neural substrates. More recently, the task has been used to investigate related issues in patient groups (e.g. amputation, stroke, chronic pain) and is also being used increasingly in rehabilitation as the task has been found to have therapeutic value. Using experimental methods, the proposed research will explore theoretical and practical aspects of the HLRT by investigating performance while modifying critical elements of the task (e.g. response mode, stimuli, instructions). Studies will begin by focusing on performance in healthy individuals with a view to later studies considering performance in a patient-based population, depending on the interests of the student (e.g. stroke, chronic pain).
Useful reading
Cocksworth, R. L., & Punt, T. D. (2013). When the left hand does not know what the left hand is doing: response mode affects mental rotation of hands. Experimental Brain Research, 228(1), 87-95.
Daprati, E., Nico, D., Duval, S., & Lacquaniti, F. (2010). Different motor imagery modes following brain damage. Cortex, 46(8), 1016-1030.
King, R., Johnson, M. I., Ryan, C. G., Robinson, V., Martin, D. J., & Punt, T. D. (2015). My foot? Motor imagery-evoked pain, alternative strategies and implications for laterality recognition tasks. Pain Medicine, 16, 555-557.
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