Right-left discrimination: effects of handedness and educational background

The present study investigated right left discrimination, with a paper-and-pen test with cartoon figures. The test consisted of line drawings of a person with no, one, or both arms crossing the vertical axis of the body in the figure. The subjects' task was to mark with a pencil, as fast as possible, which was the right or left hand in the figure. The line drawings were viewed from the back, from the front, or randomly alternating between the back and front views. Two studies were conducted. The first consisted of 393 adults: 153 males and 240 females; 338 right-handers and 55 left-handers. The results showed that the males performed better than the females. The left-handers and the right-handers performed equally well. However, the left-handed males performed better than the right-handed males. There was no difference in performance between the right-handed and the left-handed females. The second study consisted of 175 right-handed college students: 63 psychology students. 54 medical students, and 58 law students. The main finding was that the medical students performed better than the psychology students for all figure orientation subtests and for all arm positions. In comparison with the law students, the medical students performed at the same level on the back view subtest, but they performed better on the front view subtest and on two out of three arm positions on the alternating view subtest.