Association of Cognitive Abilities and Brain Lateralization among Primary School Children in Kuwait

Abstract

Background. Many studies have explored the cognitive variation between left- and right-handed individuals; however, the differences remain poorly understood. Aim of the Work. To assess the association between brain lateralization indicated by handedness and cognitive abilities. Material and Methods. A total of 217 students aged between 7 and 10 years of both genders were identified for the study. Males and females were equally distributed. All left-handed students were chosen. An equal group with right-handed students was randomly selected. Handedness was assessed using traditional writing hand approach as well as the WatHand Cabient Test and the Grooved Pegboard Test. Cognition was measured using Cambridge University's CANTAB eclipse cognitive battery. Pearson Correlation Coefficient Test “r” was calculated to measure the strength of association between quantitative data. Results. Right-handed children had superior visuospatial abilities (p = 0.011, r = 0.253), visual memory (p = 0.034, r = 0.205), and better scores in reaction time tests which incorporated elements of visual memory (p = 0.004, r = −0.271). Left-handed children proved to have better simple reaction times (p = 0.036, r = 0.201). Conclusion. Right-handed children had superior visuospatial abilities and left-handed children have better simple reaction times.

The impact of fencing training symmetrisation on simple reaction time

“…Fencers from group II and group III achieved better results in reaction time and movement time for the nondominant hand than the dominant one. Similar results were obtained by Badau et al in a study on athletes doing individual sports, and also by other authors [1,3,26]. This may probably be an effect of using symmetrisation exercises by the coaches of these athletes.…”

Assessment of the Relevance and Reliability of Reaction Time Tests Performed in Immersive Virtual Reality by Mixed Martial Arts Fighters

“…Nevertheless, it is necessary to emphasize that in the context of the domination of the right or left arm with reference to RT, research results presented by other authors are not conclusive. Some of them show that simple RT for the left hand is shorter than for the right hand [52][53][54][55], while the others present a reverse dependency [56,57].…”

Differences among Three Measures of Reaction Time Based on Hand Laterality in Individual Sports

“…One study performed in 2017 on six volunteers who participated in the tests of simply reaction time found that intense sport results in increased reaction times and the light physical activity had a positive effect on human reaction time, resulting in a shorter reaction time in both simple and recognition tests [ 2 ]. Although a previous study suggested that left-hand movement simple reaction time might be shorter than that for the right hand [ 4 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], another found that the right-hand reaction time was shorter [ 20 , 21 ]. Many studies demonstrated that males had faster SRT compared to females, likely because of the differences in motor responses as opposed to differences in muscle contraction [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

“…Many studies demonstrated that males had faster SRT compared to females, likely because of the differences in motor responses as opposed to differences in muscle contraction [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Some studies found some statistically significant information though small differences in cognitive abilities between right- and left-handed individuals [ 17 , 25 ]. A study conducted on athletes showed that SRT was significantly better in karate-kumite practitioners than in karate-kata ones.…”