Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 4-3-2013
Journal / Book Title
Plos One
Abstract
Unilateral hand clenching increases neuronal activity in the frontal lobe of the contralateral hemisphere. Such hand clenching is also associated with increased experiencing a given hemisphere’s “mode of processing.” Together, these findings suggest that unilateral hand clenching can be used to test hypotheses concerning the specializations of the cerebral hemispheres during memory encoding and retrieval. We investigated this possibility by testing the effects of a unilateral hand clenching on episodic memory. The hemispheric Encoding/Retrieval Asymmetry (HERA) model proposes left prefrontal regions are associated with encoding, and right prefrontal regions with retrieval, of episodic memories. It was hypothesized that right-hand clenching (left hemisphere activation) pre-encoding, and left-hand clenching (right hemisphere activation) pre-recall, would result in superior memory. Results supported the HERA model. Also supported was that simple unilateral hand clenching can be used as a means by which the functional specializations of the cerebral hemispheres can be investigated in intact humans.
DOI
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062474
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Propper, Ruth E.; McGraw, Sean E.; and Brunyé, Tad T., "Getting a Grip on Memory: Unilateral Hand Clenching Alters Episodic Recall" (2013). Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 9.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/psychology-facpubs/9
Published Citation
Propper, Ruth E., Sean E. McGraw, Tad T. Brunye, and Michael Weiss. "Getting a grip on memory: Unilateral hand clenching alters episodic recall." PloS one 8, no. 4 (2013): e62474.
Included in
Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Behavioral Neurobiology Commons, Cognitive Neuroscience Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons, Psychology of Movement Commons