Handedness: Evaluation of Binomial Distribution Hypothesis in Children and Adults

Abstract

7 timed, unilateral-hand function tasks were administered to 240 adults and 378 children. Discrepancies between right- and left-hand time scores were used to classify Ss into right-, left-, or “mixed-”handed categories. Only partial fit was observed between obtained frequencies of handedness and frequencies predicted from the assumption of a binomial distribution of handedness. Using a performance-defined criteria for handedness, more children than adults showed faster performance with their left hands and more adults than children showed equivalent time scores for both hands.