LECTURE EXTENSION Development of Hand and Eye Preference in Preschoolers (p. 298) While a great deal of research has been conducted on the development of hemispheric dominance, only a handful of these studies have focused on the development of handedness in relation to age in normal infants and children, and even fewer have considered the development of eye preference. In order to examine the development of hand and eye preference in children ages 6 and under, Ozturk and associates (1999) recruited 1,456 children ranging in age from 0 to 78 months. Each child completed the Denver II developmental test, which contains 8 to 14 fine motor tasks. The criteria for assessing hand preference was using one hand over the other more than 75 percent of the time while engaging in these fine motor tasks. In order to determine eye preference, researchers observed children peeking at the testor through a rolled sheet of paper. Because refusal to look was expected in some children, the task was repeated up to three times or until the child accomplished it. Following completion of these tasks, researchers calculated the ages when 10 percent, 25 percent, 50 percent, and 90 percent of the children demonstrated hand and eye preference. The results of this study indicate that hand and eye preference develop at different rates. Researchers found that hand preference developmed in 90 percent of the children by age 5 years 8 months while development of eye preference was not evident in 90 percent of the children until age 6 years 2 months. They also found that the age when 50 percent of the sample developed hand preference was earlier in left-handers than in right-handers. However, there was no significant difference in the development of eye preference in right- and left-handers. Finally, among those children who had developed both hand and eye preference, 73 percent of the right-handers used the right eye preferentially, while only 59 percent of the left-handers preferred their left eye. Although many studies have found significant correlations between left-handedness and lower intellectual and motor functioning, the results of this study indicate that children can develop quite normally reguardless of hand preference. Because the investigators carefully screened the participants of this study (such as, all children were full-term singleton births with no history of hospitalization or physical or neurological impariment), they were able to conclude that left-handedness may have a biological basis that is not related to an organic or neurological impairment. Further research is still warranted in order to determine why hand and eye preference develop at different rates and why some left-handers seem to be at risk for aversive developmental outcomes. Ozturk, C., Durmazlar, N., Ural, B., Karaagaoglu, E., Yalaz, K., & Anlar, B. (1999). Hand and eye preference in normal preschool children. Clinical Pediatrics, 38, 677-680. LEARNING ACTIVITY Examining Preschool Children’s Drawings (p. 314)
When children reach early childhood, they suddenly begin to use lines to represent object boundaries. Around age 3 or 4, a child draws her first picture of a person. Between 3 and 6, drawing gradually becomes more complex. Collect art samples from preschoolers of varying ages. Note the age and gender of each child for later reference. Place the art collection around the classroom. Ask students to guess the age of the artist of each drawing and to describe the features of the picture that led to their prediction.
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