The effects of hand preference and gender on finger tapping performance asymmetry by the use of an infra-red light measurement device

We used an infra-red device to study the effects of gender and handwriting preference on manual asymmetry in tapping rate and intertap variability. Ou r sample (n = 102) consisted of approximately equal number of subjects with respect to gender (52 women and 50 men) and handedness (52 right-handers a nd 50 left-handers). Data on overall performance indicated that men perform ed more quickly and regularly than women. The index used for measuring manu al asymmetry was the difference between the hands as a proportion of the to tal. Therefore, the asymmetry index was adjusted to remove the influence of overall performance. The analyses based on asymmetry scores indicated a si gnificant handedness effect: right-handers showed greater manual asymmetrie s than left-handers for both tapping rate and intertap variability. In addi tion, right handers exhibited a significant greater asymmetry for intertap variability than tapping rate. Taken together, these data may reflect great er hemispheric differences in right-handers, specially for intertap variabi lity. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.