A developmental analysis of the relationship between hand preference and performance: II. A performance-based method of measuring hand preference in children

The present study describes a performance-based method of measuring hand pr eference in children. Three aspects of handedness were considered to he imp ortant in developing the paradigm (a) overall hand preference across a numb er of tasks, (b) consistency of hand use and, (c) the use of the preferred hand in a bimanual task. The new paradigm, termed the WatHand Box Test (WBT ), requires participants to perform a variety of unimanual tasks such as, u sing a hammer, tossing a ball, and opening a lock with a key. To determine the validity of the WET and examine the developmental trends in hand prefer ence, eighty right-handed children and adults (ages 3-4, 6-7, 9-10, and 18- 24 years) performed the WET. First, the WET was found to correlate signific antly with scores on a standard hand preference questionnaire for the adult s. As well, significant developmental trends were noted in hand preference as measured by the WET. Most specifically, three- and four-year-olds had si gnificantly lower scores on the WET indicating a less stable pattern of han d preference than in the other three age groups. (C) 2000 Academic Press.