Problems in Left-Right Discrimination in a High-Iq Population

Abstract

The prevalence of difficulties in left-right discrimination was investigated in a group of 2,720 adult members of the high-IQ societies Mensa and Intertel. Over-all, 7.2% of the men and 18.8% of the women evaluated their left-right directional sense as poor or below average. Participants who were relatively ambidextrous experienced problems more frequently than did those who were more strongly left- or right-handed. Age differences were also evident, with participants age 17–29 reporting the highest rate of problems, and participants age 60 and over reporting markedly lower rates than those age 30–59. The observed patterns of gender differences were maintained within these age- and strength-of-handedness subdivisions. The basis for selecting the items that form the handedness inventory used is discussed.