The Relationship between Turning Behavior and Motoric Dominance in Humans

Abstract

This study attempted to correlate turning direction on the stepping test with three measures of motoric dominance—handedness, footedness, and eyedness. 111 high school students performed the stepping test while deprived of visual and auditory cues during a 1-min. interval. Although only slightly more than half of the subjects rotated rightward, the direction and magnitude of turning correlated significantly with footedness and eyedness but not with handedness. Thus, axial turning biases and motoric dominance may partially share a common mechanism, possibly involving vestibular asymmetry.