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. Using the mobile app Sea Hero Quest, University of York researcher Pablo Fernandez-Velasco and his colleagues were able to test a large, diverse sample of individuals (422,772 participants) from 41 countries worldwide. They found no reliable evidence for any difference in spatial ability between left- and right-handers across all countries.
Spatial cognition, the ability of humans to perceive and navigate our physical environment, is a fundamental set of brain-based skills.
It is also not clearly dominated by either hemisphere, leaving scientists unclear as to whether it has any link to handedness.
Some, inconclusive, research has suggested that left-handers might be better at navigating virtual and real games and left-handed athletes are known to be over-represented in the in professional sports requiring rapid and accurate responses.
However, it’s been a tricky issue to research, partly because handedness prevalence changes from culture to culture, and partly because testing for handedness effects requires a large number of participants.
Using the Sea Hero Quest, a video game that captured user information and tracked navigational challenges, Dr. Fernandez-Velasco and co-authors were able to overcome both challenges.
They were able to measure demographic data — including hand preference — and activity from 422,772 international participants, across 41 different countries.
Left handers in the sample made up an average of 9.94% of the participants, with more males using their left hand compared with women, similar to what had previously been found in the general population.
The authors found that left handers were neither better nor worse than right handers at the tasks,…
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