Effect of Left-Hand Peg Placement Direction on the Grooved Pegboard Test

Clinical experience has shown that examinees performing the Grooved Pegboard Test frequently have difficulty maintaining the manualized right-to-left placement direction with their left hand. To date, no empirical study has examined this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether left-hand peg placement direction (right-to-left vs. left-to-right) influences performance on this standardized test of fine motor speed and dexterity. The participants were 66 male and female student volunteers aged 18 to 58 years old. None of the participants had a history of neurologic disease/trauma or conditions that would affect motor functioning of the right and left upper extremities. Data were analyzed using a two-way mixed-design analysis of covariance. Results revealed a significant main effect for gender, F(1, 62) = 5.638, p = .021. Of primary interest was the main effect for placement direction, which was not significant, F(1, 62) = 0.108, p = .744. No significant interaction was observed, F(1, 62) = 0.002, p = .964.