ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2012, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (12): 1971-1979.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2012.01971

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‘Good Right and Bad Left’ or ‘Good Left and Bad Right’: The Relation Between Handedness and Space Affective Valence

YIN Rong;QU Fang-Bing;YE Hao-Sheng   

  1. (1 School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China) (2 The Center for Mind and Brain, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)
  • Received:2012-03-15 Online:2012-12-15 Published:2012-12-15
  • Contact: YE Hao-Sheng

Abstract: Good things and bad things are often associated with the right or the left, which is the affective valence of left space and right space. The studies basing on theories of embodied cognition and body-specificity hypothesis show that right-handers implicitly associate “good” with “right” and the opposite is true for left-handers. The motor experience of dominant hand and nondominant hand shape space valence. Space valence can be reversed as a result of changes in motor experience of dominant hand and nondominant hand. The brain areas that support approach motivation functionally are related to areas that support motor actions of dominant hand. Future research should focus on the relationship between the laterality of motivation and the laterality of manual motor control and determine how influences of cultural and bodily experiences combine to shape space valence.

Key words: embodied cognition, affective valence, body-specificity hypothesis, motor fluency