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The present paper reviews a series of studies regarding the effects of hemispheric asymmetry and reading and writing habits on directional preferences in reproducing horizontally-displayed visual stimuli. Hebrew readers, English readers, and Arabic readers were presented with arrays of horizontally-displayed directional and nondirectional stimuli, as well as with single stimuli. They were asked to reproduce the stimuli, and the direction of their reproduction, left-right or right-left, was recorded for analysis. Generally, in reproducing arrays of stimuli, English readers showed left-right directionality, whereas Hebrew readers showed right-left directionality. But in reproducing arrays of English and Hebrew letters, subjects of both groups showed left-right and right-left preferences, respectively. However, the right-left directional preferences shown by Hebrew readers were weaker than the left-right preferences shown by English readers. It was hypothesized that these differences are due to differential reading and writing habits acquired in school by English- and Hebrew-readers. In support of the reading and writing habit hypothesis, it was subsequently found that: (a) Arabic readers, who have stronger right-left reading and writing habits than Hebrew readers, show relatively stronger right-left directional preferences, and (b) with the introduction of English as a foreign language in the fifth grade, children show an increase in left-right directionality. Further investigation showed that, depending on the experimental conditions, directional preferences may be a function of either reading and writing habits, or hemispheric asymmetry, or both. Finally, the bearing of these findings on the "nature-nurture" controversy regarding the development of perceptual exploration in children is discussed.

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Patterns of lateral preferences of hand, eye and foot were analyzed on 7364 children, differing in race (black and white) and sex. Right hand and foot preferences were found in over 80%, and right eye preferences were found in over 50% of the subjects. No sex or race differences appeared in left-right preferences. However, significantly more females than males, and more blacks than whites, showed variable foot preference. Further analyses of cross preferences indicated that about 40% of the subjects showed consistent lateral preferences of hand, eye, and foot (about 37% right, and about 3% left), whereas the other 60% were divided among ten groups of different preference combinations. The three lateral measures were correlated to differing degrees. The data were interpreted as showing the effects of cerebral dominance on lateral preferences of hand, eye and foot. The effects seemed to be considerably stronger for hand and foot than for eye preferences. Due to a lack of supporting data, interpretation of race differences in variable foot preference must be considered tentative.