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. 2018 Feb 5;13(2):e0192320.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192320. eCollection 2018.

Manual action verbs modulate the grip force of each hand in unimanual or symmetrical bimanual tasks

Ronaldo Luis da Silva  1   2 , David Labrecque  1 , Fátima Aparecida Caromano  3 , Johanne Higgins  2   4 , Victor Frak  1   2
Affiliations

Manual action verbs modulate the grip force of each hand in unimanual or symmetrical bimanual tasks

Ronaldo Luis da Silva et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Manual action verbs modulate the right-hand grip force in right-handed subjects. However, to our knowledge, no studies demonstrate the ability to accomplish this modulation during bimanual tasks nor describe their effect on left-hand behavior in unimanual and bimanual tasks. Using load cells and word playlists, we evaluated the occurrence of grip force modulation by manual action verbs in unimanual and symmetrical bimanual tasks across the three auditory processing phases. We found a significant grip force increase for all conditions compared to baseline, indicating the occurrence of modulation. When compared to each other, the grip force variation from baseline for the three phases of both hands in the symmetrical bimanual task was not different from the right-hand in the unimanual task. The left-hand grip force showed a lower amplitude for auditory phases 1 and 2 when compared to the other conditions. The right-hand grip force modulation became significant from baseline at 220 ms after the word onset in the unimanual task. This moment occurred earlier for both hands in bimanual task (160 ms for the right-hand and 180 for the left-hand). It occurred later for the left-hand in unimanual task (320 ms). We discuss the hypothesis that Broca's area and Broca's homologue area likely control the left-hand modulation in a unilateral or a bilateral fashion. These results provide new evidence for understanding the linguistic function processing in both hemispheres.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Grip force sensor held by means of a tri-digital pinch.
Arm support extends to the fifth metacarpal head while the sensor remains hanging in the gap. The sketch in detail shows the symmetrical bimanual positioning and displays the neutral position of flexion/extension of the wrists.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Grip force modulation and RT according to the tasks.
Curves illustrating grip force modulation from -200 ms until the end of the third phase of the neurophysiological model of spoken sentence comprehension described by Friederici [18] compared to baseline and the moment in which the reaction time (RT) occurs (triangles). UR: unimanual task, right-hand; SBR: symmetrical bimanual task, right-hand; SBL: symmetrical bimanual task, left-hand; UR: unimanual task, right-hand. Blue curves used for the right hand and green curves for the left hand. Asterisks indicate a significant difference between baseline and the modulation. Asterisk color indicates the significant condition. Time in milliseconds after the word onset. Y-axis: grip force variation in millinewtons.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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