PROBLEMS IN LEFT-RIGHT DISCRIMINATION IN A HIGH-IQ POPULATION

Abstract

The prevalence of difficulties in left-right discrimination was investigated in a group of 2,720 adult members of the high-IQ societies Mensa and Intertel. Over-all, 7.2% of the men and 18.8% of the women evaluated their left-right directional sense as poor or below average. Participants who were relatively ambidextrous experienced problems more frequently than did those who were more strongly left- or right-handed. Age differences were also evident, with participants age 17-29 reporting the highest rate of problems, and participants age 60 and over reporting markedly lower rates than those age 30-59. The observed patterns of gender differences were maintained within these age- and strength-of-handedness subdivisions. The basis for selecting the items that form the handedness inventory used is discussed.