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Unimanual and bimanual simultaneous fingertapping in schoolchildren: developmental aspects and hand
C Njiokiktjien1, L De Sonneville, M Hessels
1Pediatrics Policlinic, Free University Hospital, P.O. Box 7057, NL-1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Control
Background:
- Hand preference emerges early in development.
- Understanding the maturation of fine motor skills is crucial for developmental neuroscience.
- Previous research has explored hand preference but less on the developmental trajectory of bimanual coordination and speed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in unimanual and bimanual finger tapping speed and regularity in children.
- To examine sex differences in motor performance.
- To explore the relationship between hand preference and tapping performance characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Computerized analysis of finger tapping tasks in 233 children aged 5-12 years.
- Assessment of hand preference using six demonstration actions.
- Measurement of tapping speed, regularity, and inter-hand synchrony during unimanual and bimanual tasks.
Main Results:
- Finger tapping speed and regularity improved with age for both hands in unimanual and bimanual tasks.
- No significant sex differences were observed in tapping performance.
- While right-handedness correlated with faster right-hand tapping and right-hand lead in bimanual tasks, these were not strong predictors of hand preference.
Conclusions:
- Motor function, specifically finger tapping speed and regularity, shows significant development throughout childhood.
- A right-hand bias in motor performance exists even in non-strongly right-handed children, potentially linked to left-hemisphere dominance for motor control.
- Hand preference is a complex trait influenced by underlying neural asymmetries affecting motor execution.
Abstract:
Computerised analysis of finger tapping was performed in 233 normal 5- to 12-year-old children whose hand preference was assessed with six demonstration actions. Performance with both hands became more rapid with age when tapping unimanually or simultaneously in phase with two hands as quickly as possible. There were no differences between the sexes. Performance with both hands also acquired more tapping regularity with age during unimanual tapping, whereas only the left hand did so during bimanual tapping. There was no age effect on the dexterity (speed) difference between unimanually tapping hands, nor on the relative time lag and the degree of synchrony between the hands in bimanual tapping. The degree of synchrony, however, becomes more stable in older children. The more righthanded children are, the faster the right hand is in unimanual tapping, and the more the right hand is ahead of the left hand during bimanual tapping. However, there is a right shift for both of these variables which makes them poor predictors of hand preference. These results suggest that there is a strong bias towards the right hand in complete righthanders as well as--to a lesser extent--in all others, which might be connected to the leading role of the left hemisphere for the performance aspects of hand motor function under study.
