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Development of the infant's hand preference for visually directed reaching: Preliminary report of a longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Carlson Douglas F.,
Harris Lauren Julius
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(198523)6:3<158::aid-imhj2280060307>3.0.co;2-x
Subject(s) - hand preference , preference , developmental psychology , psychology , longitudinal study , audiology , medicine , laterality , pathology , economics , microeconomics
The development of hand preference in infancy was investigated longitudinally by using a visually‐directed reaching task. Thirty‐two infants, equally divided into groups of familial right‐ and left‐handed boys and girls, were tested every 3 weeks from 24 to 39 weeks of age and once again at 52 weeks. Group trends for the development of hand preference were differentiated by familial handedness and sex of the infant. At all ages, test object position (to the infant's right or left) strongly influenced the hand used for reaching. Marked variability both between and within infants demonstrated an instability of early hand preference, an effect that could be appreciated fully only with a prospective longitudinal design. The results thus suggest that the development of hand preference for reaching is highly variable, discontinuous, and related to the interaction of sex and familial handedness.