Effect of Hand Dominance on Rate of Learning and Bilateral Transfer.

People generally have a dominant and a nondominant hand. Dominance refers to the ability to perform a task better with a particular hand [Hand preference does not necessarily mean hand dominance] (Rigal, 1974). For example, a child may show tendencies to be left hand dominant; however, his parents may insist that he use his right hand. As he grows older, he will use his right hand as his preferred hand, but in fact his left hand will be dominant. It would be advantageous to determine true dominance in order to provide more optimal learning conditions.It has been well established (Cook, 1936; Walters, 1955; Singer and Milne, 1975) that bilateral transfer affects the rate of learning. That is, if a person performs a task first with one hand, then he will learn from doing that task; therefore, he will learn the task more quickly with his second hand. While it is generally agreed that transfer is greater from dominant to nondominant limb, whether there are differences across ages is uncertain. There may be critical developmental periods during which transfer of training is greater.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year

1977

Author dc:creator

• Gleason, Memory Hammond

• Right hand
• Hand preference
• Dominance
• Nondominant hand
• Nondominant limb

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7091

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.library.uab.edu:etd-collection-8083