Movement time of right- and left-handers using their preferred and non-preferred hands

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The aim of the present work was to quantify the difference in performance of hands when doing tasks of defined difficulty. Results of five experiments are reported in which strongly lateralised subjects performed movement tasks with their preferred and non-preferred hands. These tasks were: (i) ballistic movements, (ii) Fitts' task, (iii) pin-to-hole transfer, (iv) Drury tracking task, and (v) a modified form of the Drury tracking task in which subjects cut paper with scissors. The results showed that in ballistic tasks there was no significant effect of handedness or of hand used. With visually-controlled tasks, where there was considerable control of accuracy required, the preferred hand generally performed better than the non-preferred hand. There was however no significant difference, in any of the tests, between right- and left-handers when using their preferred hands. Left-handers, in some tasks, performed better with their non-preferred hands than did right-handed persons using the non-preferred hand. Selection of operators for industrial tasks may be dependent on handedness of the person, particularly when machines are designed for a specific handedness. The results of these experiments show that there are no reasons for selection based on inferior performance of left-handers, in fact, left-handers may be superior to right-handers in some respects.