The disadvantages of dextrality for intelligence*

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Abstract
The right shift (RS) theory of handedness suggests that the human bias to dextrality has costs as well as benefits. Samples of children from six primary schools were individually tested for hand preference, hand skill and Raven's Matrices. Scores on standardized educational tests recently given by teachers were available for three schools. When children were stratified for ability, the distributions of hand preference and of right minus left (R-L) hand skill were as expected if extent of RS is inversely related to ability. When children were classified for R-L score, the most strongly dextral children were poorer than all others for Matrices, English and several other tests. The trend for ability to decline from left to right across the laterality continuum was consistent for all scores available. Strong dextrality is associated with weak left-hand skill, not good right-hand skill, in accord with the hypothesis that the costs of RS are to the right hemisphere. The findings and their interpretation are discussed in comparison with Geschwind's theory of developmental pathology, and for their implications for theories of hemisphere specialization.