Lateralities in normal children ages 3 to 8 and their role in cognitive performances

The presence and type of correlations between laterality and cognitive skills in normal adults or children remains controversial. This study examines relations between different lateralities, that is, handedness, footedness, eyedness, parental left-handedness, asymmetry of hand skill on a computerized version of the Peg-Moving Task (CPMT) proposed by Annett (1985), and different verbal and nonverbal skills assessed by 13 tasks in 254 normal children, aged 3 to 8 years. Results showed increasing performances with increasing dextrality on the CPMT for 2 tasks involving phonology (Phonological Fluency and Reading Nonwords), 2 tasks involving visual memory and visuospatial skills, and for finger localization. Footedness, eyedness, and parental left-handedness had no significant effect on cognitive performance. The pattern of performance according to the sinistrality-dextrality continuum was highly variable from one cognitive task to the other. The previously mentioned results suggest that relative hand skill is a better correlative of cognitive performance than the usual measures of handedness. Further study is needed to specify the pattern of associations.