Effects of Unilateral Hand Contraction on Sustained Attention and Inhibitory Control

AURELIA VIRGITA C, Galang Lufityanto, S.Psi., M.Psi., Ph.D., Psikolog

2019 | Tesis | MAGISTER PSIKOLOGI

Unilateral hand contraction like squeezing a ball with the left hand might give the possibility of enhancing emotional state and cognitive performance. However, the effect of unilateral hand contraction towards particular cognitive performance, such as sustained attention and inhibitory control, remained unclear. This study observed the effect of performing unilateral hand contraction such as squeezing a rubber ball with the left hand as the non-dominant hand, in thirty-one right-handed participants. The electroencephalogram was used in this study to observe the brain cortical activity during hand contraction task. The result of this study showed that unilateral left-hand contraction promoted better performance in sustained attention and inhibitory control tasks due to decreased cortical activity. In summary, this study demonstrated that the unilateral hand movement could promote better performance in sustained attention and inhibitory control due to a widespread reduced cortical activity as a result of interhemispheric inhibition.

Gerakan tangan unilateral seperti gerakan meremas bola dengan tangan kiri sebagai tangan non-dominan, telah diketahui dapat mengakibatkan perubahan emosi dan performa kognitif. Efek kontraksi tangan unilateral ini terhadap performa fungsi kognitif tertentu, seperti atensi berkelanjutan dan kontrol inhibisi masih belum diketahui dengan baik. Pada penelitian ini, tiga puluh satu peserta dibagi ke dalam dua kelompok, yaitu kelompok yang melakukan tugas meremas bola dengan tangan kiri dan kelompok yang meremas bola dengan tangan kanan. Elektroensefalogram digunakan dalam penelitian ini untuk mengamati aktivitas kortikal otak selama tugas meremas bola. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa gerakan tangan unilateral dengan tangan kiri dapat menyebabkan penurunan aktivitas kortikal otak yang dapat menyebabkan performa kognitif yang lebih baik dalam mengerjakan tugas yang mengukur atensi berkelanjutan dan kontrol inhibisi.

Kata Kunci : unilateral hand movement, non-dominant hand, sustained attention, inhibitory control