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Handedness and cognitive functions in Pervasive Developmental disorders

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders volume 15, pages 323–333 (1985)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper is concerned with what abnormal handedness in Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) reveals about the presence, lateralization, and severity of cerebral dysfunction in this population. From previous work, it was predicted that left-handedness would be elevated in the sample and that mixed-handedness subjects should be more impaired than those with established hand dominance. A battery of cognitive and motor tests were administered to a group of PDD children with autistic symptoms, and performance was compared for the left-handed, right-handed, and mixedpreference children. It was found that left-handers tended to do better than right-handers on all cognitive measures, while the mixed-preference children tended to be the lowest on all cognitive measures. No differences were found on motor measures. An extension of the Satz (1972) model, assuming early brain damage, was developed to explain the superiority of the left-handed children; an alternative explanation assuming anomalous lateralization patterns in the natural left-handers was also suggested.

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Author notes

  1. Deborah Fein

    Present address: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Boston University School of Medicine, 85 E. Newton Street, 02118, Boston, Massachusetts

Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Boston University School of Medicine, 85 E. Newton Street, 02118, Boston, Massachusetts

    Dorothy Lucci

  2. Trenton State College, USA

    Lynn Waterhouse

  3. University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, USA

    Bruce Pennington

  4. City University of New York, USA

    Margaret Humes

Authors
  1. Deborah Fein
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  2. Lynn Waterhouse
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  3. Dorothy Lucci
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  4. Bruce Pennington
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  5. Margaret Humes
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Additional information

This research was supported by a project grant from NIMH (28605) to Drs. Waterhouse and Fein, and by Research Scientist Development Awards to Drs. Fein and Pennington. We would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne and to Dr. Robin Morris for important theoretical contributions to the work. We are very grateful to the staff and students of the League School (Newton, Massachusetts), the Eden Institute (Princeton, New Jersey), the Mercer Country Community Guidance Center Day School (Trenton, New Jersey), the Midland School (Somerville, New Jersey), and Search Day Program (Ocean, New Jersey). We wish to thank Chris Brumbach, Laurie Miller, Helen Garretson, Karin Kerensky, and Joane Jenkins for their patience and skill in testing the children.

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Fein, D., Waterhouse, L., Lucci, D. et al. Handedness and cognitive functions in Pervasive Developmental disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 15, 323–333 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531502

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531502

Keywords

  • Cognitive Function
  • Alternative Explanation
  • Developmental Disorder
  • Brain Damage
  • Pervasive Developmental Disorder