Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2014
Objective: To examine hand preference, hand skill and hand strength in university undergraduates in order to determine the most reliable index of handedness.
Method: The Edinburgh Inventory, a group test of handedness by marking dots in circles, and a standard dynamometer were used with 248 (148 female, 100 male) subjects.
Results: No statistically significant correlations were found between hand skill and strength, or between hand preference and strength. A significant correlation between skill and preference was found in the male right-handed group of 93 students.
Conclusion: It is not possible to demonstrate whether preference or skill is the better index of handedness; a standardised method for assessment of hemispheric dominance for handedness is required; in the meantime the criterion used in a specific study should be explicitly stated in any citation of that study.