TY - JOUR
T1 - Attempts to switch the writing hand
T2 - Relationships to age and side of hand preference
AU - Porac, Clare
N1 - Funding Information:
Requests for reprints should be sent to C. Porac, Box 3050, Department of Psychology, U n iv er sit y o f V ic to ri a, V i ct o r i a, B ri t i sh C o l u m b ia , V 8 W 3 P 5 , C an a d a. Em ai l : HAND@C ASTLEUVVM.UVIC.C A This research was supported by funds from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following individuals and organisations in data collection: T. Buller, M. Harnadek, A. Hern, M. Izaak, D. Krieg, I. Lavers, M. Peterson, L. Rees, C. Verdon, and F. Williams; Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 917 and 951; and the administrative personnel of Harbour Square, Hillside and Tillicum Malls, Victoria, British Columbia. This research is part of an ongoing project exploring the relationship between human hand preference and mortality risk factors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1996/3
Y1 - 1996/3
N2 - The recent suggestion that left-handedness is a mortality risk factor has prompted extensive media attention and has renewed research interest in generational differences in hand preference incidence and training. It is argued that differential generational training effects (the modification hypothesis), rather than decreased survival fitness (the elimination hypothesis), account for the lower numbers of individuals classified as left-handers in contemporary samples over the age of 60 years. A total of 633 individuals (aged 13-83 years) were queried about attempts to switch hand preference. Forty-one (6.5%) described efforts to shift preference in the rightward direction; of these, 21 (3.3%) reported attempted rightward writing hand shifts. The percentage of older adult left-handers, who reported right shifts in writing, was greater than the percentage of younger left-handers who described such attempts. Comparisons between the group reporting right shifts and those reporting no shift experiences suggested that the age-related decrease in leftward preference was specific to a decrease in the incidence of left-hand writing among older adults.
AB - The recent suggestion that left-handedness is a mortality risk factor has prompted extensive media attention and has renewed research interest in generational differences in hand preference incidence and training. It is argued that differential generational training effects (the modification hypothesis), rather than decreased survival fitness (the elimination hypothesis), account for the lower numbers of individuals classified as left-handers in contemporary samples over the age of 60 years. A total of 633 individuals (aged 13-83 years) were queried about attempts to switch hand preference. Forty-one (6.5%) described efforts to shift preference in the rightward direction; of these, 21 (3.3%) reported attempted rightward writing hand shifts. The percentage of older adult left-handers, who reported right shifts in writing, was greater than the percentage of younger left-handers who described such attempts. Comparisons between the group reporting right shifts and those reporting no shift experiences suggested that the age-related decrease in leftward preference was specific to a decrease in the incidence of left-hand writing among older adults.
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U2 - 10.1080/713754205
DO - 10.1080/713754205
M3 - Article
C2 - 15513027
AN - SCOPUS:0002542878
SN - 1357-650X
VL - 1
SP - 35
EP - 44
JO - Laterality
JF - Laterality
IS - 1
ER -