Publication Date

7-1977

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Shirley Laney, Thaddeus Crews, Burch Oglesby

Degree Program

Department of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

The cultural design of the United States of America has caught up its left-handed individuals in a righthander's world. Daily the left-hander or sinistral is forced to cope with problems which present themselves only to sinistrals, posing no difficulty to right-handers or dextrals. It was the intention of this investigation to determine whether, as a result of this emphasis on dextrality training, sinistrals could more quickly learn motor tasks with the non -dominant hand than could dextrals.

The hypothesis upon which the investigation was founded was stated in null form: no significant difference exists between motor learning displayed by sinistrals as compared to dextrals in performing a novel motor task with the non-dominant hand.

The experimental design of the investigation was that of two group, multiple experimental sessions. The subjects were volunteers from the spring semester 1977 physical education classes at Western Kentucky University. The twelve subjects participating in the experiment were female, non-physical education majors between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. Six of the subjects made up the right-hand dominant sample, the remaining six subjects made up the left-hand dominant sample.

Subjects were required to complete twelve experimental sessions within a four week period. At each session each subject performed the experimental task of juggling two tennis balls in the non-dominant hand for two periods of three minutes. These performances were scored using the dichotomous factors of catches and trials.

The data collected from the experiment were analyzed by using an analysis of covariance test to ascertain levels of significance reached by each sample group for the factors of catches and trials. An analysis of covariance test was also used to ascertain the levels of significance reached by the twelve sample subjects taken as one group, for the factors of catches and trials. Finally, an analysis of covariance test was used to ascertain whether either sample group learned significantly more than the other group for the factors of catches and trials.

It was found that both sample groups reached significant levels of learning for the factor of catches; however, only the right-hand dominant sample reached significance for the factor of trials. The twelve sample subjects, taken as one group, reached significant levels of learning for the factor of catches, but not trials. Finally, neither sample group learned significantly more than the other group for the factors of catches and trials.

The analyses of data of this investigation resulted in a failure to reject the hypothesis. Three possible explanations for this failure to reject the hypothesis were advanced: 1) Conditioning of sinistrals to negative self-images, resulting in psychological attitude negatively effecting motor performance. 2) The sample sinistrals, eighteen to twenty-one years of age, did not suffer the process of conversion to dextrality training that sinistrals of previous decades suffered. 3) The theories of the generality of transfer versus the specificity of transfer of motor skills.

Disciplines

Education | Health and Physical Education

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