title: Hand preferences in preschool children: Reaching, pointing and symbolic gestures.
abstract: Manual asymmetries emerge very early in development and several researchers have reported a significant right-hand bias in toddlers although this bias fluctuates depending on the nature of the activity being performed. However, little is known about the further development of asymmetries in preschoolers. In this study, patterns of hand preference were assessed in 50 children aged 3-5 years for different activities, including reaching movements, pointing gestures and symbolic gestures. Contrary to what has been reported in children before 3 years of age, we did not observe any difference in the mean handedness indices obtained in each task. Moreover, the asymmetry of reaching was found to correlate with that of pointing gestures, but not with that of symbolic gestures. In relation to the results reported in infants and adults, this study may help deciphering the mechanisms controlling the development of handedness by providing measures of manual asymmetries in an age range that has been so far rather neglected.
authors: a Department of Psychology , University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès , Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
authors: Hélène
authors: H
authors: Cochet
authors: Laurie
authors: L
authors: Centelles
authors: Marianne
authors: M
authors: Jover
authors: Suzy
authors: S
authors: Plachta
authors: Jacques
authors: J
authors: Vauclair
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D005868:Gestures; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D008369:Manual Communication; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: Hand preference; Preschool children: Pointing gestures: Symbolic gestures: Reaching actions