What Is the Role of Manual Preference in Hand-Digit Mapping During Finger Counting? A Study in a Large Sample of Right- and Left-Handers.

1. Perception. 2016 Jan-Feb;45(1-2):125-35. doi: 10.1177/0301006615602628. Epub 2015
Sep 21.

What Is the Role of Manual Preference in Hand-Digit Mapping During Finger
Counting? A Study in a Large Sample of Right- and Left-Handers.

Zago L(1), Badets A(2).

Author information:
(1)Groupe d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle (GIN), Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux,
France .
(2)Groupe d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle (GIN), Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux,
France.

The goal of the present study was to test whether there is a relationship between
manual preference and hand-digit mapping in 369 French adults with similar
numbers of right- and left-handers. Manual laterality was evaluated with the
finger tapping test to evaluate hand motor asymmetry, and the Edinburgh
handedness inventory was used to assess manual preference strength (MPS) and
direction. Participants were asked to spontaneously “count on their fingers from
1 to 10” without indications concerning the hand(s) to be used. The results
indicated that both MPS and hand motor asymmetry affect the hand-starting
preference for counting. Left-handers with a strong left-hand preference (sLH) or
left-hand motor asymmetry largely started to count with their left hand
(left-starter), while right-handers with a strong right-hand preference (sRH) or
right-hand motor asymmetry largely started to count with their right hand
(right-starter). Notably, individuals with weak MPS did not show a hand-starting
preference. These findings demonstrated that manual laterality contributes to
finger counting directionality. Lastly, the results showed a higher proportion of
sLH left-starter individuals compared with sRH right-starters, indicating an
asymmetric bias of MPS on hand-starting preference. We hypothesize that the
higher proportion of sLH left-starters could be explained by the congruence
between left-to-right hand-digit mapping and left-to-right mental number line
representation that has been largely reported in the literature. Taken together,
these results indicate that finger-counting habits integrate biological and
cultural information.

© The Author(s) 2015.

DOI: 10.1177/0301006615602628
PMID: 26562861 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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