Using a continuous index of laterality to determine how laterality is related to interhemispheric transfer and bimanual coordination in children.

We sought to determine whether laterality is related to interhemispheric transfer and bimanual coordination during development. Children between 3 and 8 years of age were observed. In the first part of the experiment, we devised a continuous index to order the subjects according to their laterality. The laterality index included evaluation of hand and eye preference, and the right-left performance difference. In the second part of the experiment, we used this single index to determine whether laterality is related to interhemispheric transfer and bimanual coordination. Interhemispheric transfer was assessed by means of two tactile transfer tasks and one visuo-manual transfer task. We assessed bimanual coordination using the tapping task and the bimanual crank-rotation task. Results showed that right- and left-hand writers overlap on certain measures of laterality. They confirmed the improvement of interhemispheric transfer at around age 5 years, earlier progress in bimanual coordination with mirror than with parallel movements, and the existence of a relationship between visuo-manual interhemispheric transfer and bimanual coordination. The laterality index was not related to interhemispheric transfer, but it was related to the younger subjects' performance on the bimanual crank-rotation task: the less right handed, the better the bimanual coordination. In addition, on the same bimanual task, crossed hand-eye laterality was associated with better performance. Copyright 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 43: 44-56, 2003.