No link between handedness and spatial navigation: evidence from over 400 000 participants in 41 countries

Abstract

There is an active debate concerning the association of handedness and spatial ability. Past studies used small sample sizes. Determining the effect of handedness on spatial ability requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants and a navigation task with real-world validity. Here, we overcome these challenges via the mobile app Sea Hero Quest. We analysed the navigation performance from 422 772 participants from 41 countries and found no reliable evidence for any difference in spatial ability between left- and right-handers across all countries. A small but growing gap in performance appears for participants over 64 years old, with left-handers outperforming right-handers. Further analysis, however, suggests that this gap is most likely due to selection bias. Overall, our study clarifies the factors associated with spatial ability and shows that left-handedness is not associated with either a benefit or a deficit in spatial ability.

Predicting real-world navigation performance from a virtual navigation task in older adults

“…This explanation is supported by the mean score of 28.45 in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in our population, above what would be expected for a population this age (26.3), see Borland et al (2017). Note that self-selection bias -not necessarily of physically active older participants, but rather of older participants with a higher-than-average cognitive function -might also affect the global sample of Sea Hero Quest players, where there is higher variability after the age of 60 (Coutrot et al, 2018; for an exploration of selection bias in this age group, see Fernandez-Velasco et al, 2023). Our results mirror those of Hill et al, (2024), who found older participants' decline in navigation ability was mitigated when the virtual world was presented in a more naturalistic medium (immersive VR) compared to when it was presented on a flat desk-top screen.…”

“…Lim et al, 2023). Studies using Sea Hero Quest have found that gender inequality across countries (gender gap index) predicts gender differences in navigation ability (Coutrot et al, 2018), that 7 hours of sleep is associated with a better navigation performance late in life across cultures (Coutrot et al, 2022a;Yavuz et al, 2024a), or that neither handedness (Fernandez-Velasco et al, 2023) nor GPS reliance (Yavuz et al, 2024b) are associated with spatial ability, while education is (Coutrot et al 2023). Cultural norms around masculinity have been found associated with over-estimation of navigation performance across countries (Walkowiak et al 2023).…”