Lateral Preference Behaviors in Preschool Children and Young Adults

Abstract

COREN, STANLEY; PORAC, CLARE; and DUNCAN, PAM. Lateral Preference Behaviors in Preschool Children and Young Adults. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 443-450. The behavioral manifestations of hand, eye, foot, and ear preference were studied in a sample of 384 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children and compared to a group of 171 high school students. Both the young adults and the preschool children display predominantly right-sided preference patterns for both limbs and sense organs. The older group, however, shows more consistent dextrality and a high degree of association between the various indexes of laterality. The younger group does not show cross-index congruency above chance expectation. These results indicate that some aspects of lateral preference behavior are influenced by age-related variables.