Grasping is fundamentally important for our successful interaction with the environment. Grasping with both hands is phylogenetically older than the hand yet its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The objective of this research is to examine bimanual grasping and its underlying mechanisms. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether bimanual grasping involves both hemispheres equally or only one dominant hemisphere, and to examine whether information crosses at an early visual level and/or at later sensorimotor/motor levels. The first experiment examined participants’ grasping and reaching movements while they fixated either to the left or right of the object. For the second experiment, EEG data was recorded while participants performed a similar task. The results from both experiments suggested that when we grasp an object with both hands, the left and right hemispheres control the action equally, and visual information is shared before it reaches areas that are involved in motor control.

Grasping is fundamentally important for our successful interaction with the environment. Grasping with both hands is phylogenetically older than the hand yet its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The objective of this research is to examine bimanual grasping and its underlying mechanisms. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether bimanual grasping involves both hemispheres equally or only one dominant hemisphere, and to examine whether information crosses at an early visual level and/or at later sensorimotor/motor levels. The first experiment examined participants’ grasping and reaching movements while they fixated either to the left or right of the object. For the second experiment, EEG data was recorded while participants performed a similar task. The results from both experiments suggested that when we grasp an object with both hands, the left and right hemispheres control the action equally, and visual information is shared before it reaches areas that are involved in motor control.