Abstract

Two experiments explore the Action Potentiation effect with grasped bimanual objects having two symmetrical handles. Objects typically used in the kitchen (e.g., mezzaluna knife) and objects typically used during spare time (e.g., joypad) were presented during a categorization task in four experimental conditions: compatible grasping object, incompatible grasping object, object alone, two-handles grasping object. Results show a more difficult categorization when objects were shown as grasped on the opposite side than the response rather than on the same side in each of two different response modes (bimanual: Experiment 1; unimanual: Experiment 2). We discuss implications of these results for action potentiation and spatial coding theories.