The influence of sex and handedness on the development of constructing skills during infancy
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Emily. C. Marcinowski (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- George Michel
Abstract: Towards the end of their first year, infants are initially learning to construct objects. Construction, or merging multiple objects into a single, unifying structure, requires combining cognitive and sensorimotor abilities. Since infants with a hand preference have greater manual proficiency than infants with no hand preference, infants with a hand preference are expected to be more skilled at construction. Since some evidence suggests that females may develop motor skills more quickly than males, sex may play a role in the development of construction; however no specific predictions are made. Fifty-three infants (26 females) were brought to the lab from the ages of 6-14 months across 9 monthly visits. Infants were given a handedness task across all visits to assess their handedness, and additionally given a construction task from 10-14 months to assess their constructing skill. Using multilevel Poisson longitudinal modeling, left-handed males constructed at a significantly slower rate across 10-14 months than all other groups. Left-handed males follow a unique trajectory of constructing skill, which could indicate differences in their spatial abilities and may also affect related cognitive abilities at later ages, such as hierarchical structuring or seriation.
The influence of sex and handedness on the development of constructing skills during infancy
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Created on 12/1/2013
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2013
- Keywords
- Cognitive, Construction, Development, Handedness, Infant, Longitudinal
- Subjects
- Infants $x Development
- Sex differences (Psychology)
- Left- and right-handedness