LINE BISECTION IN FRENCH AND ISRAELI SUBJECTS - A DEVELOPMENTAL-APPROACH

120 normal right-handed subjects, children and adults, with opposite r eading habits (60 French, left-to-right readers, 60 Israeli, right-to- left readers) and 60 preschool children (30 French and 30 Israeli), we re submitted to a visuomotor bisection task. Bisection is found to be dependent upon reading habits with a leftward deviation of the subject ive middle for left-to-right readers, and a rightward bias for right-t o-left readers. Even before formal reading learning, French and Israel i preschool children differ significantly in bisecting a line. Results are discussed with respect to hemispheric activation theories and dir ectional hypotheses.