I. Uehara, No transfer of visuomotor learning of button-pressing from right to left hands in right-handed four-year-olds, PERC MOT SK, 87(3), 1998, pp. 1427-1440
To assess the underlying mechanism of visuomotor learning in children and i
ts relation to the cerebral lateralization, intermanual transfer of learnin
g was examined on a button-press task. The main experiment examined transfe
r of learning from one hand to the other for 36 right-handed 4-yr.-olds, 19
5-yr.-olds, and 8 adults. The experiment consisted of three phases. In the
first and second of three phases, the subject performed the task with the
right [(or left) hand, then with the left (or right)]. All age groups exhib
ited transfer from the left to the right hands; however, the 4-yr.-olds sho
wed no transfer from the right to the left, whereas the other age groups sh
owed transfer from the right to the left as well as left to right. Results
were discussed in relation to the underlying mechanism of learning and hemi
spheric organization, and a new interpretation was proposed.