The Impact of Handedness, Sex, and Cognitive Abilities on Left–Right Discrimination: A Behavioral Study

1. Front Psychol. 2018 Mar 27;9:405. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00405. eCollection
2018.

The Impact of Handedness, Sex, and Cognitive Abilities on Left-Right
Discrimination: A Behavioral Study.

Constant M(1)(2)(3)(4), Mellet E(1)(2)(3)(4).

Author information:
(1)Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives (IMN), UMR 5293, University of
Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(2)Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut des Maladies
Neurodégénératives (IMN), UMR 5293, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(3)CEA, Groupe d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Institut des Maladies
Neurodégénératives (IMN), UMR 5293, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(4)Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives (IMN), UMR 5293, Team 5: GIN Groupe
d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Centre Broca Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France.

The present study examined the relationship between left-right discrimination
(LRD) performance and handedness, sex and cognitive abilities. In total, 31 men
and 35 women – with a balanced ratio of left-and right-handers – completed the
Bergen Left-Right Discrimination Test. We found an advantage of left-handers in
both identifying left hands and in verifying « left » propositions. A sex effect
was also found, as women had an overall higher error rate than men, and
increasing difficulty impacted their reaction time more than it did for men.
Moreover, sex interacted with handedness and manual preference strength. A
negative correlation of LRD reaction time with visuo-spatial and verbal long-term
memory was found independently of sex, providing new insights into the
relationship between cognitive skills and performance on LRD.

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00405
PMCID: PMC5881360
PMID: 29636718

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus