Hemispheric specialization in normally and slowly developing children: a tachistoscopic and dichaptic evaluation

Relation between Hemispheric Specialization and Gross Motor Control in Normal Right-Handed Children

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between gross-motor, eye-hand coordination and hemispheric specialization in normal right-handed children. Participants were 30 children, 75–99 mo. 15 boys and 15 girls performed a gross-motor eye-hand coordination task (a controlled, continuous one-handed ball bounce) and a test of hemispheric specialization. A backscreen tachistoscopic projection system was used to present letters and abstract shapes to left and right visual hemifields. A multivariate analysis of variance yielded a significant main effect for eye-hand coordination but not for sex. Follow-up analyses indicated that speed and accuracy of responses to verbal and spatial stimuli presented to the left cerebral hemisphere were significantly related to proficiency of eye-hand coordination. Data suggest that certain aspects of hemispheric specialization may be important to gross-motor eye-hand coordination in young children. Since the left cerebral hemisphere is the major control center for movements of the right side, the hemisphere which controls movements of a particular side may also assume the major responsibility for processing information needed to regulate those movements.

Lateral asymmetry in finger localization for right-handed, kindergarten girls

Laterality in finger localization (FL) was examined in 49 right-handed, kindergarten girls also administered tasks assessing verbal-receptive ability and manual dexterity. A right-hand advantage was evident overall and varied by FL task. The magnitude of asymmetry in FL was not unequivocally related to task requirement for verbal processing and was otherwise independent of children's verbal-receptive ability and motor laterality. The results were discussed in terms of cortical maturation and emergent cognitive-verbal processes as factors to be considered in the interpretation of asymmetry in FL.