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    Michael Peters

    University Professor Emeritus

    College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science

    mpeters@uoguelph.ca
    Google Scholar
    A Laboratory Manual for the Dissection of the Sheep Brain
    Sheep Brain Lab Manual Glossary

    Research Areas

    • Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Sciences

    About

    Dr. Michael Peters is University Professor Emeritus, having retired from the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph. He served as editor for the journal Laterality from 1996-2007 and as member of the Advisory Board of Editors of Laterality from 2007 to 2026. He also served on the Board of Associate Editors of the Journal Neuropsychologia from 1995-2006.

    Mental Rotation Task

    Please contact Dr. Peters at mpeters@uoguelph.ca to request access to the mental rotation task (MRT) and library of mental rotation stimuli.

    Education

    • BSc and MSc University of Calgary
    • PhD University of Western Ontario
    • Habilitation, Physiological Institute, University of Munich

    Publications

    Books

    Angermeier, W. F. & Peters, M. (1973). Bedingte Reaktionen. Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag

    Papers

    1. Peters, M. & Cooper, R. M. (1969). Effects of nucleus posterior thalami lesions on the performance of visual discriminations. Psychonomic Science, 14, 97-98.
    2. Monjan, A. A. & Peters, M. (1970). Cerebellar lesions and task difficulty in pigeons. Journal of comparative and physiological Psychology, 72, 171-176. yy
    3. Peters, M. (1971). Mouth to mouth contact in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 27, 1009-1010.
    4. Peters, M. & Monjan, A. A. (1971). Behavior after cerebellar lesions in cats and monkeys. Physiology and Behavior, 6, 205-206.
    5. Peters, M. (1971). Sensory mechanisms of homing in Salmonids: A comment. Behaviour, 39, 18-19.
    6. Peters, M. & Filter, P. M. (1973). Performance of a motor task after cerebellar cortical lesions in rats. Physiology and Behavior, 11, 13-16.
    7. Peters, M., Bleek, C. M. & Monjan, A. A. (1973). Reaction to electrical shock after cerebellar lesions in the rat. Physiology and Behavior, 10, 420-423.
    8. Peters, M. (1973). A schematic atlas of the cerebellum of the rat. Physiology and Behavior, 13, 133-141.
    9. Peters, M. & Ploog, D. (1973). Primate communication. Annual Review of Physiology, 35, 221-242.
    10. Bleek, C. M. & Peters, M. (1974). Learning performance of rats with cerebellar lesions. Acta Biologica at Medica Germanica, 32, 517-525. yy
    11. Peters, M. (1976). Aversive conditioning and alcoholism: a nineteenth century case report. Canadian Psychological Review, 17, 61.
    12. Peters, M. (1976). Prolonged practice of a simple motor task by preferred and nonpreferred hands. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 43, 446-450.
    13. Peters, M. & Ploog, D. (1976). Frontal lobe lesions and social behavior in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus). Acta Medica et Biologica Germanica, 35, 43-54.
    14. Peters, M. (1976). Experimental approaches to the study of psychosomatic diseases. Zeitschrift für Kinder und Jugendpsychiatrie, 4, 104-112.
    15. Peters, M. (1977). Simultaneous performance of two motor activities: the factor of timing. Neuropsychologia, 15, 461-465.
    16. Peters, M. (1976). Seasonal variations in the incidence of disease in a population of mentally retarded persons. Mental Retardation Bulletin (Edmonton), September Issue.
    17. Peters, M. (1978). Hypertension and the nature of stress. Science, 198, 80.
    18. Peters, M. (1978). Sexual behavior of two males with trisomy 21 and one male with D-G translocation. Mental Retardation Bulletin, 1, 26-29.
    19. Peters, M. & Pedersen, K. (1978). Incidence of left-handers with inverted writing position in a population of 5910 elementary school children. Neuropsychologia, 16, 743-746.
    20. Peters, M. & Durding, B. (1978). Handedness measured by finger tapping: a continuous variable. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 32, 257-261.
    21. Peters, M. & Durding, B. (1979). Footedness of left-and right-handers. American Journal of Psychology, 92, 133-142.
    22. Peters, M. & Durding, B. (1979). Left-handers and right-handers compared on a motor task. Journal of Motor Behavior, 11, 103-111.
    23. Peters, M. & Petrie, B. F. (1979). Functional asymmetries in the stepping reflex of human neonates. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 33, 198-200.
    24. Peters, M. (1980). Why the preferred hand taps more quickly than the nonpreferred hand: three experiments in handedness. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 34, 62-71.
    25. Petrie, B. F. & Peters, M. (1980). Functional asymmetries in the grasp reflex of human neonates. Journal of Infant Behavior and Development, 3, 215-221. yy
    26. Peters, M. (1981). Effects of prolonged practice on between hand performance differences. Neuropsychologia, 19, 587-590.
    27. Peters, M., Petrie, B. F. & Oddie, D. (1981). Asymmetries in foot size related to sex and handedness: not confirmed. Science, 212, 1417-1418.
    28. Peters, M. (1981). Attentional asymmetries during concurrent bimanual performance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33, 95-103.
    29. Peters, M. (1981). Handedness: Coordination of within- and between-hand alternating movements. American Journal of Psychology, 94, 633-643.
    30. Thornton, C. & Peters, M. (1982). Interference between concurrent speaking and sequential finger tapping: Both hands show a performance decrement under both visual and non-visual guidance. Neuropsychologia, 20, 163-169. yy
    31. Peters, M. (1983). RT to tactile stimuli presented ipsi-and contralaterally to the responding hand. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 35, 397-410.
    32. Peters, M. (1983). Inverted and noninverted lefthanders compared on the basis of motor performance and measures related to the act of writing. Australian Journal of Psychology, 35, 405-416.
    33. Peters, M. (1983). Differentiation and lateral specialization in motor development. In G. Young, C. Corter, S. J. Segalowitz and S. Trehub (Eds.). Manual specialization and the developing brain: longitudinal studies. Academic Press: New York, pp. 141-159.
    34. Peters, M. (1983). Lateral bias in reaching and holding at six and twelve months. In G. Young, C. Corter, S. J. Segalowitz and S. Trehub (Eds.). Manual specialization and the developing brain: longitudinal studies. Academic Press: New York, pp. 367-364.
    35. Peters, M. (1984). Initiation and termination of movement in dual tasks. In J. Gibbon and L. Allen (Eds.). Timing and time perception. New York Academy of Sciences.
    36. Winston, A. A., & Peters, M. (1984). The Pith of the pendulum: A note on the study of formal operations. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 59, 587-590. yy
    37. Peters, M. (1985). Performance of a rubato-like task - when two things cannot be done at the same time. Music Perception, 2, 471-482.
    38. Peters, M. (1985). Constraints in the coordination of bimanual movements and their expression in skilled and unskilled subjects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 37A, 171-196.
    39. Peters, M. (1986). Incidence of lefthanded writers and the inverted writing position in a sample of 2194 German elementary school children. Neuropsychologia, 24, 429-433.
    40. Chrisjohn, R., & Peters, M. (1986). The right-brained Indian: Fact or Fiction. Journal of American Indian Education, 25, 1-7. yy
    41. Peters, M. (1986). Autism as impairment in the formation and use of meaning: An attempt to integrate a functional and a neurological model. The Journal of Psychology, 120, 69-81.
    42. Chrisjohn, R., & Peters, M. (1986). The pernicious myth of the rightbrained Indian. Canadian Journal of Indian Education, 13, 62-71.yy
    43. Augustyn, C., & Peters, M. (1986). On the relation between footedness and handedness. Perception and Motor Skills, 63, 1115-1118.yy
    44. Peters, M. (1987). A nontrivial motor performance difference between right-handers and left-handers: Attention as intervening variable in the expression of handedness. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 41, 91-99.
    45. Peters, M. (1986). Hand roles and handedness in music. Psychomusicology, 6, 29-34.
    46. Peters, M, & McGrory, J. (1987). Writing performance of inverted and noninverted right- and left-handers. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 41, 20-32.
    47. Peters, M., & McGrory, J. (1987). Dichotic listening performance in inverted and noninverted right- and lefthanders. Brain and Language, 32, 253-264.
    48. Chrisjohn, R., Towson, S., & Peters, M. (1988). Indian Achievement in School: Adaptation to a Hostile Environment. In J. W.. Berry, S. H. Irvine and E. B. Hunt (Eds.), Indigenous cognition: functioning in cultural context. (pp. 257-283). Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publ.yy
    49. Peters, M. (1988). Footedness: Asymmetries in foot preference and skill and neuropsychological assessment of foot movement. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 179-192.
    50. Peters, M. (1988). The size of the corpus callosum in males and females: Implications of a lack of allometry. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 42, 313-324.
    51. Chrisjohn, R. D, Towson, S. M. J., Pace, D. F., & Peters, M. (1988). The WISC-R in a native application: External and internal analysis. In J. Berry & R. C. Annis (Eds.), Ethnic Psychology (pp.275-284). Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.xx
    52. Peters, M. (1988). The primate mouth as agent of manipulation and its relation to human handedness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 11, 729.
    53. Peters, M., & Schwartz, S. (1988). Coordination of the two hands and effects of attentional manipulation in the production of a bimanual 2:3 polyrhythm. Australian Journal of Psychology, 41, 215-224.
    54. Peters, M. (1989). Do feedback processing, output variability and spatial complexity account for manual asymmetries ? Journal of Motor Behavior, 21, 151-155.
    55. Peters, M. (1989). The relationship between variability of intertap intervals and interval duration. Psychological Research, 51, 38-42.
    56. Peters, M., Servos, P. (1989). Performance of subgroups of lefthanders, and righthanders. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 43, 341-358.
    57. Peters, M., Servos, P., & Day, R. (1990). Marked Sex Differences on a Fine Motor Skill Task disappear when Finger Size is used as Covariate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 87-90.
    58. Peters, (1990). Phenotype in Normal Lefthanders: An understanding of phenotype is the basis for understanding mechanism and inheritance of handedness. in S. Coren (Ed.), Left-handedness: Behavioral implications and anomalies, Advances in Psychology Series (pp. 167-192): Amsterdam: Elsevier.
    59. Peters, M. (1990). Subclassification of lefthanders poses problems for theories of handedness. Neuropsychologia, 28, 279-289.
    60. Peters, M. (1990). Neuropsychological identification of motor problems: Can we learn something from the feet and legs that hands and arms will not tell us ? Neuropsychology Review, 1, 165-183.
    61. Peters, M. (1990). Interaction of vocal and manual movements. In G. Hammond (Ed.) Cerebral control of speech and limb movement. Advances in Psychology (pp. 535-574). Amsterdam: North-Holland
    62. Servos, P., & Peters, M. (1990). A Clear Left Hemisphere Advantage for Visuo-Spatially based Verbal Categorizations. Neuropsychologia, 28, 1251-1260.xx
    63. Peters, M. (1991). Sex, handedness, mathematical ability and biological causation. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 45, 415-419.
    64. Peters, M. (1991). Sex Differences in Human Brain Size and the General Meaning of Differences in brain size. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 45, 507-522.
    65. Peters, M. (1991). Laterality and motor control. In G. R. Bock & J. Marsh (Eds.) Biological asymmetry and handedness, CIBA Symposium 162 (pp. 300-311). London: Wiley.
    66. Peters, M., & Perry, R. (1991). No link between lefthandedness and maternal age and no elevated accident rate in lefthanders. Neuropsychologia, 29, 1257-1259.
    67. Peters (1992). How sensitive are handedness prevalence figures to differences in handedness classification procedures ? Brain and Cognition, 18, 208-215.
    68. Peters, M. & Murphy, K. (1992). Cluster analysis reveals at least three, and possibly five distinct handedness groups. Neuropsychologia, 30, 373-380.
    69. Peters, M. (1992). Cerebral asymmetry for Speech and the Asymmetry in Path Lengths for the Right and Left Recurrent Nerves. Brain and Language, 43, 349-352.
    70. Peters, M. & Pang, J. (1992), Do "right-armed" lefthanders have different lateralization of motor control for the proximal and distal musculature ? Cortex, 22, 391-399.
    71. Peters, M., & Murphy, K. (1993). Factor analyses of pooled hand questionnaire data are of questionable value. Cortex, 29, 305-413.
    72. Peters, M. (1993). Still No Convincing Evidence of a Relation between Brain Size and Intelligence in Humans. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 47, 751-772.
    73. Alyman, C., & Peters, M. (1994). Performance of Male and Female Children, Adolescents and Adults on Spatial Tasks that involve Everyday Objects and Settings. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 47, 730-747.xx
    74. Peters, M. (1994). When attention can absolutely not be divided. Journal of Motor Behavior. 26, 196-199.
    75. Peters, M. (1994). Does handedness play a role in the coordination of bimanual movemement ? In S. Swinnen, H. Heuer, J. Massion, & P. Caesar (Eds.) Interlimb coordination (pp. 595-615) . New York: Academic Press.
    76. Murphy, K., & Peters, M. (1994). Right-handers and left-handers show differences and important similarities in task integration when performing manual and vocal tasks concurrently. Neuropsychologia, 32, 663-674.xx
    77. Peters, M., Chisholm, P., & Laeng, B. (1995). Spatial ability, student gender and academic performance. Journal of Engineering Education, 84, 69-73.
    78. Laeng, B. & Peters, M. (1995). Cerebral Lateralization for the Processing of Spatial Coordinates and Categories in Left- and Right-handers. Neuropsychologia, 33, 421-439.xx
    79. Peters, M. (1995). Does Brain size matter ?: reply to Rushton and Ankney. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 49, 570-576.
    80. Peters, M. (1995). Handedness and its relation to other indices of cerebral lateralization. In R. Davidson and K. Hugdahl (Eds.). Brain Asymmetry. (pp. 183-214). Boston, Mass.: MIT Press.
    81. Peters, M., Laeng, B., Latham, K., Jackson, M., Zaiyouna, R. and Richardson, C. (1995). A Redrawn Vandenberg & Kuse Mental Rotations Test: Different Versions and Factors that affect Performance. Brain and Cognition, 28, 39-58.
    82. Peters, M. (1995). Race differences in brain size: Things are not as clear as they seem to be. American Psychologist, 50, 947-948.
    83. Peters, M. (1995). R - L skill distributions and their Relation to the Balanced Polymorphism Model of Handedness. Current Psychology of Cognition, 14, 586-595.
    84. Peters, M. (1995). Essay review of P. Rushton "Race, evolution, and behavior". Aggressive Behavior, 21, 463-468.
    85. Peters, M., & Campagnaro, P. (1996). Do women really excel over men in fine motor dexterity ? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 1107-1112.
    86. Peters, M. (1996). Hand preference and performance in lefthanders. In D. Elliott and E. A Roy (Eds.), Manual asymmetries, pp. 99-120. Boca Raton, Fl: CRC Press.
    87. Peters, M. (1997). Left and Right in Classical Italy and Greece. Laterality, 2, 3-6.
    88. Peters, M. (1997. Sex Differences in Intercepting a moving Target by Throw or Button Press. Journal of Motor Behavior, 29, 290-296.
    89. Peters, M. (1998). Description and Validation of a Flexible and Broadly Usable Hand Preference Questionnaire. Laterality, 3, 77-96.
    90. Peters, M., & Brooke, J. (1998). Conduction velocity in muscle and cutaneous afferents in humans. Journal of Motor Behavior, 30, 285-287.
    91. Laeng, B., Peters, M., & McCabe, R. (1998). Memory for locations within regions: spatial biases and visual hemifield differences. Memory & Cognition, 26, 97-107.xx
    92. Peters, M., Jäncke, L., Staiger, J. F., Schlaug, G., Huang, Y., & Steinmetz, H. (1998). Unsolved problems in comparing brain sizes in Homo Sapiens. Brain and Cognition, 37, 254-285.
    93. Jäncke, L.,Peters, M., G. Schlaug, G., Posse, S., H. Steinmetz, H., H.-W. Müller-Gärtner, H.-W. (1998). Differential magnetic resonance signal change in human sensorimotor cortex to finger movements of different rate of the dominant and subdominant hand. Cognitive Brain Research,(6)4, 279-284.xx
    94. Peters, M. & Ivanoff, J. (1999). Performance asymmetries in computer mouse control for righthanders, and lefthanders with left- and righthanded mouse experience. Journal of Motor Behavior, 31, 86-94.
    95. Jäncke, L., Specht, K., Mirzazade, S., & Peters, M.. (1999). The effect of finger-movement speed of the dominant and the subdominant hand on cerebellar activation: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neuroimage, 9, 497-507.xx
    96. Corballis, M., McManus, C., & Peters, M. (Eds.) (1999). Special Issue: Twin lateralisation: biology and psychology. Laterality, 4, 193-320. xx
    97. Peters, M. (2000). The Importance of the Autonomic Nervous System for Theories of Cognitive Brain Function. Brain and Cognition, 42, 93-94.
    98. Jäncke, L., Peters, M., Himmelbach, M.., Nösselt, T., Shah, J., & Steinmetz, H. (2000). FMRI study of bimanual coordination. Neuropsychologia, 38, 164-174.xx
    99. Peters, M. , Jäncke, L. , and Zilles, K. (2000) Comparison of overall brain volume and midsagittal corpus callosum surface area as obtained from NMR scans and direct anatomical measures: a within-subject study on autopsy brains. Neuropsychologia, 38, 1375-1381.
    100. Peters, M. (2000). Contributions of imaging techniques to our understanding of handedness. In Manas K. Mandal, M. B. Bulman-Fleming & G. Tiwari, (Eds.). Side-bias : A neuropsychological perspective. Dordrecht, pp. 191-222: Kluwer Academic Publishers
    101. Ivanoff, J., & Peters, M. (2000) A shift of attention may be necessary, but it is not sufficient for the generation of the Simon effect. Psychological Research , 64, 117-135.xx
    102. MacKenzie, K., & Peters, M. (2000). Handedness, hand roles and hand injuries at work. Journal of Safety Research, 31, 221-227.xx
    103. Winston, A., & Peters, M. (2000). Presentation and interpretation of international homicide data. Psychological Reports, 86, 865-871. xx
    104. Jäncke, L., Shah, N. J., & Peters, M. (2000). Cortical activations in primary and secondary motor areas for complex bimanual movements in professional pianists. Cognitive Brain Research, 10, 177-183.
    105. Peters, M. (2000). Comment on “Hausmann and Güntürkin: the influence of sex hormones on functional cerebral asymmetries”. Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie, 11, 220-221.xx
    106. Peters, M., Tan, U., Kang, Y., Teixeira, L., & Mandal, M. (2002). Sex-specific finger-length patterns linked to behavioral variables; consistency across various human populations. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 171-181.
    107. Peters, M., MacKenzie, K., & Bryden, P. (2002). Finger Length and Distal Finger Extent Patterns in Humans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 117, 209-217.
    108. Peters, M., Oeltze, S. , D. Seminowicz, D., Steinmetz, H., Koeneke, S. and Jäncke, L. (2002). Subdivision of the Corpus Callosum into Subregions. Brain & Cognition, 50, 62-72.
    109. Jordan, K., Wüstenberg, T., Heinze, H-J., Peters, M., Jäncke, L. (2002). Women and men exhibit different cortical activation patterns during mental rotation tasks. Neuropsychologia, 40, 2397-2408.xx
    110. Coolican, J., and Peters, M. (2003). Sexual dimorphism in the 2D:4D ratio and its relation to mental rotation performance. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 179-183.xx
    111. Peters, M. (2004) Latéralité à l’âge adulte. In J. Fagard (Ed.) Droitiers / gauchers: Des asymétries dans tous les sens, (pp. 81-95). Paris: Solal.
    112. Barnett-Cowan, M. Peters, M. (2004). Does handedness influence the strength of phantom limb illusions in the virtual reality box ? Brain & Cognition , 55, 275-276.
    113. Jaspers-Fayer, F., Peters, M. (2005). Hand Preference, Magical Thinking and Left/Right Confusion, Laterality, 10, 183-191.xx
    114. Peters, M. (2005). Sex differences and the factor of time in solving Vandenberg & Kuse mental rotation problems. Brain & Cognition, 57, 176-184.
    115. Jordan, K., Wüstenberg, T. Jaspers-Fayer, F., Fellbrich, A., and Peters, M. (2006). Sex differences in left/right confusion. Cortex, 42, 69-78.xx
    116. Peters, M., Lehmann, W., Takahira, S., Takeuchi, Y., Jordan, K. (2006). Mental Rotation Test performance in four cross-cultural samples (n = 3367) : Overall Sex differences and the role of Academic Program in performance. Cortex, 42(7), 1005-1014.
    117. Jäncke, L., Baumann S., Koeneke S., Meyer M., Laeng B., Peters M., Lutz, K.U. (2006). Neural control of playing a reversed piano: Empirical evidence for an unusual cortical organisation of musical functions, Neuroreport, 17, 447-451.xx
    118. Peters, M., Reimers, S., Manning, J. T. (2006) Hand Preference for Writing and Associations with Selected Demographic and Behavioural Variables in 255,100 Subjects: The BBC Internet Study. Brain & Cognition, 62(2), 177-189.
    119. Manning, J. T, Churchill, A. J.G., & Peters, M. (2007). The Effects of Sex, Ethnicity, and Sexual orientation on Self-Measured Digit Ratio (2D:4D). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), 223-233.xx
    120. Maylor, E.A., Reimers, S., Choi, J., Collaer, M. L., Peters, M., & Silverman, I. (2007). Gender and Sexual orientation differences in cognition across adulthood: Age is kinder to women than to men regardless of sexual orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), 235-249.xx
    121. Peters, M., Manning, J. T., Reimers, S. (2007). The effects of sex, sexual orientation, and digit ratio (2D:4D) on mental rotation performance, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), 251-260.
    122. Silverman, I., Choi, J., & Peters, M. (2007). The hunter-gatherer theory of spatial sex differences: data from 40 countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), 261-268.xx
    123. Peters, M. & Battista, C. (2008). Applications of mental rotation figures of the Shepard and Metzler type and description of a Mental Rotation Stimulus Library. Brain and Cognition, 66,260-264.
    124. Koeneke,S., Battista, C., Jäncke, L. & Peters, M. (2009). Transfer effects of practice for simple alternating movements. Journal of Motor Behavior, 41(4), 345-355.xx
    125. Manning, J., & Peters, M. (2010). Digit Ratio (2D:4D) and Hand Preference for Writing in the BBC Internet Study. Laterality, 14(5), 528-540.
    126. Lippa, R., Collaer, M., & Peters, M. (2010). Sex Differences in Mental Rotation and Line Angle Judgments Are Positively Associated with Gender Equality and Economic Development across 53 Nations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39(4), 990-997.
    127. Battista, C. & Peters, M. (2010). Ecological Aspects of Mental Rotation around the Vertical and Horizontal axis. Learning and Individual Differences, 31(2), 110-113.