Simultaneous vs. Separate Bilateral Muscular Contractions in Relation to Neural Overflow Theory and Neuromoter Specificity

Abstract The dynamometer strength of 30 males age 21 years was measured for each hand. There were two trials under the condition of single-hand contraction and two trials with simultaneous contraction of both hands. Facilitation as predicted by the hypothesis failed to occur. The dominant hand showed 3 percent loss of strength when there was simultaneous contraction of the contralateral hand, but there was no influence on the strength of the nondominant hand. Individual differences in strength were found to be 54 percent specific to the hand tested; there was only 46 percent general hand strength ability.