ABSTRACT

In the present study we examine the relations between lateralities and cognitive performances in children aged 3 to 8 years. This work is part o f a longitudinal study on normal chi ld development performed in preschool and school-age ch i l - dren in France. Published findings from this study have focused, for instance, on parent-child associations concerning manual functional asymmetry (Curt, De Agost in i , Maccario, & Dellatolas, 1995), evolution o f degree and direction o f hand preference in children (Dellatolas, Tubert-Bitter, Curt, & De Agost in i , 1997), stabi l i ty and evolution o f eye dominance (Dellatolas, Curt, Dargent-Pare, & De Agost in i , 1998), or significance o f a systematic reversal in right-left orientation in children (Dellatolas, Viguier , Deloche, & De Agost ini , 1998). The present study is an integration o f our findings on the relations between lateralities and cognitive performance. The effects o f the following lateralities are examined: overall direction o f handedness, footedness, and eyedness; consistency o f lateral preferences; presence o f left-handedness among parents; manual advantage measured with the aid o f a computerized version o f Annett 's Peg-Moving Task ( C P M T ; Annett, 1985), with presentation o f the shapes o f the distributions o f scores on cognitive tasks according to the left-right continuum o f relative hand ski l l .