Abstract
51 right and left-handed children, (4-12 years), completed two versions of the Grooved Pegboard task; the standard pegboard and a pegboard 2.5 times the size of the original. Participants were required to perform two tasks on each pegboard: place the 25 key-shaped pegs in the oriented holes and remove the pegs from the holes. An age group (4-6, 7-9, 10-12 year olds) by pegboard size (standard, large) by task (place, remove) by hand (preferred, non-preferred) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted. Results revealed several significant main effects and interactions, but most interestingly there was a significant four-way interaction. Here, 10-12 year olds showed the typical adult finding (Bryden & Roy, 1999), where the preferred-hand advantage (PHA) was only significant for the place tasks, in both the standard and large Grooved pegboards. In contrast, younger children showed a PHA for both the place and remove tasks, for both pegboards. When the effects of hand preference on performance abilities were examined for 7 to 12 year olds, left-handers showed a significant PHA for only the place task on the standard pegboard, while right-handers showed significant PHAs for both tasks on both pegboards. This PHA for left-handers was evident primarily in the 7-9 year olds, but not in the 10-12 year olds, replicating recent work showing that left-handed adults show no PHA on the standard Grooved Pegboard (McWhirter, et al., 2010).Acknowledgments: NSERC(PJB & EAR)