No Association between Music Ability and Hand Preference in Children

Abstract

Hand preference was studied in 2 groups of children-children with musical ability and children without musical ability-to examine whether particular markers that may connect with handedness patterns, such as bias away from dextrality or mixed-handedness, stabilize during childhood and are associated with musical ability. Children were administered the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory to determine levels of right, left, and mixed handedness. Results demonstrated no differences in hand preference between both cohorts of children, suggesting the relative independence of musical ability and handedness. However, the inclusion of handedness as a motor marker for musical ability in children in conjunction with other preexisting neurocognitive factors cannot be entirely discounted.

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

“…Handedness was correlated with auditory updating performance (r = -0.21, p < .05), reflecting a disadvantage for more strongly right-handed individuals. In contrast, handedness was mostly unrelated to musical ability measures, fitting with other work finding little relationship between handedness and musicianship (Oldfield, 1969;Hering, Catarci, & Steiner, 1995;Piro & Ortiz, 2010). In these data, SES was not correlated with any measure of EF or with musical ability.…”