The 10th Tsukuba International Conference 2012

Left-handers “see” the world through the right temple

Twenty-three Japanese genuine left-handers were selected by a Laterality Quotient scale and asked to draw letter S on their own temples and foreheads. The way they drew on the temples showed an asymmetry that was the mirror reversal of that of right-handers, as found in the previous study. Left-handers drew a reversed letter S on their right temple much more often than on the left temple, whereas right-handers drew reversely more often on the left temple. They also drew it in a reversed way on the forehead irrespective of their handedness.

Kazuo Mori Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

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Right-handers “see” the world through the left temple (Mori, 1991)

Mori (1991) found that right-handed Japanese participants (n = 32) tended to draw letter “S” in a reversed way on the left temple as well as on the forehead, but not on the right temple. From this asymmetrical pattern, Mori (1991) concluded that the mind’s eye in our head looks front-left rather than straight ahead. They did not draw reversed letters intentionally (Mori, 2005).

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S

S

S

S

Hypothesis: Left-handers should show the reversed pattern

PROBLEMSGenuine left-handers are hard to find in Japan.Left-handedness are regarded negatively, so left-handed children are trained to be right-handers. Proportion of left-handers is about 5% in Japan.The objective criteria for handedness is needed.

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SOLUTIONThe Laterality Quotient Scale developed by Maehara (1989) was used.The LQ Scale comprises 13 critical behavior checklists such as writing, using chopsticks, drawing, throwing, etc.

Method We found 32 volunteer participants who identified themselves as left-handers, and selected 23 of them (14 men and 9 women) with LQ scores from -100 to -7.7 (Average LQ = -46.7; SD = 25.7) as genuine left-handers.Participants put on a paper strip around their head, and drew “S” on the forehead and both temples by both hands. There were 3 drawings by each hand.

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Results: Left-handers showed the reversed pattern of right-handers

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S

L RThe left-handers drew reversed “s” significantly more on the right temple (X2

(1) = 7.348, p < .01), but less often on the left temple (X2

(1) = 0.391, ns). This pattern was mirror-reversal of those of the right-handers in Mori (1991).

References• Maehara, K. (1989). Migi-kiki Hidari-kiki no Kagaku [Science of

Right and Left Handedness] Kodansha Publishing, Tokyo, Japan. • Mori, K. (1991). Komekami Kyo-ei Shoji no Nazo [The Riddle of

the Mirror Reversal Drawing on the Temples.] Advances in Japanese Cognitive Science, 4, 151-169.

• Mori, K. (2005). Elicitation of spontaneous mirror reversal drawing on the forehead. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 101, 898-900.

• Mori, K. (2012). Asymmetrical drawing patterns on the temples by left-handers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 114, 137-140.

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This experiment was conducted by Rika Yokoyama under supervision of the present author while they were at Shinshu University. The paper based on this research (Mori, 2012) will appear in Perceptual and Motor Skills. We wish to express out thanks to Rebecca Ann Marck for her help during the preparation of the manuscript and this poster.