Effect of drawing hand and age on figural fluency: a graphomotor study with the five-point test in children.

The aim of the study was to assess conceptual thinking in children in relation to age and motor dominance. We investigated the effect of the right and the left hand in a fluency task in four groups of 127 healthy right-handed children (age 5-12 years) and an adult control group. They performed the Five-Point Test twice, once with their dominant right and once with their nondominant left hand. The number of items and errors were analyzed with respect to age, drawing hand, and motor transfer. The performance of boys and girls did not differ. There was a significant effect for age and a prominent interaction between age, hand, and order (right hand or left hand first). Performance improved linearly with age. The dominant right hand performed generally better and there was a learning effect for both hands, but there was a learning advantage for the dominant hand, which increased with age. The influence of motor dominance in this fluency task seems to establish before conceptual maturity (around age 7, respectively 9 to 10).