Research question: Does hand dominance have an effect on the speed that a participant

completes a visual-spatial task in this case, mirrored drawing? In other words, would
participants complete the mirrored drawing task in a shorter amount of time with their
dominant or non-dominant hand?
Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the hand used (i.e. dominant or non
dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes the tracing of the image.
Those who are using their non- dominant hand to perform the visual-spatial mirrored
drawing will complete the drawing faster compared to when they are using their dominant
hand.
Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the hand used (i.e.
dominant or non dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes the tracing
of the image. Those who are using their dominant hand to perform the visual-spatial
mirrored drawing will complete the drawing faster compared to when they are using their
non- dominant hand.
Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the hand used (i.e. dominant
or non dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes the tracing of the
image.

Background and scientific explanation:

Research conducted by researchers such as Legon, Dionne, Meehan &Staines in 2011
and Spring & Deutsch in 1989 suggest that the left-brain and right brain are not
identical in their capabilities. Studies conducted by these three parties indicate that the
right hemisphere performs visual spatial task better than the left hemisphere. This is
due to the fact that the right hemisphere specializes in visual-spatial task. Springer and
Deutsch attributes this to the result of altered sensory gating mechanism due to neural
activity differences in the basal ganglia, SMA and M1 during non-dominant hand use
(Legon et.al, page 7). In other words, there is increased neural activity in parts of the
brain responsible for visual-spatial processing when using the non-dominant hand
Mirror-image tracing requires the participant to use a highlighter to trace the star
shown in Figure 1, first with one hand, and then with the other. Because mirror image
tracing is a task that predominantly requires hand-eye coordination (i.e. a visualspatial task), and each half of the brain controls the contralateral side of the body, it is
expected that right-handed participants will take longer to complete the task with their
right hand (controlled by their left hemisphere) compared to their left hand (controlled
by the right hemisphere).
Figure 1: A picture of star that is required to be trace by participants of this
experiment

Type of variable

Method to control variable

Likely impact on the

experiment

The participants were instructed first

to use their left (their non-dominant
hand) followed by their right (their
dominant) hand

Participants using their

left hand to perform the
experiment will be able to
trace the star faster and
more accurately

Independent variable:
Hand used by the
participant (i.e. right or
left hand)
Dependent variable:
The speed in which the
person is able to
complete the task

This experiment will be set up with a

mirror attached to the edge of an A4
sheet of paper with blue tack.
The participant will use a provided
pen to draw out the star. The
participant will be instructed to trace
the star in a clockwise fashion from
the point labeled X on the image.
After I say, Start, I will click start
on the stopwatch and the participant
will start to trace the star. I will
observe the participant and after the
participant is done tracing the star, I
will click stop on the stopwatch. The
time taken for the participant to
finish tracing the star is then
recorded.
The unit to measure the time taken
for the participant to trace the image
is in second. The uncertainty
involved in this experiment is quite
small as an electronic stopwatch is
used. It is 0.1 seconds.
The average time taken for the
participant to trace the image with
his/her left and right hand
respectively is calculated. This is
done using the formula builder in
Excel. See the Sample Calculation
for an example. A T-test will be
performed after the average time
taken to trace the image is calculated.
The T-test will be used to determine
if there is a significant difference
between the hand used (i.e. dominant
or non dominant) and the speed in
which the participant completes the
tracing of the image.

Type of variable

Method to control variable

Likely impact on the

Sex of the participant

All participants for this

experiment will be a
female

experiment
A male participant might
be able to trace the image
quicker compared to a
female participant

Age of the participant

All participants will be

chosen from Year 7 to
ensure that at most age
difference will be one year

An older participant might

be able to trace the image
quicker compared to a
younger participant

Direction in which the

image is trace (i.e.
clockwise or
counterclockwise)

Participants will be
instructed to trace the
image in a clockwise
direction

Participants tracing the

image in a counter
clockwise direction might
trace the image slower
compared to the clockwise
direction

The surrounding of the

experiment (i.e. the
presence of sound etc.)

The experiment will be

conducted in a library
alcove as it is a quiet
environment

A noisy environment
might disturb the
participants concentration
and thus the participant
may take a longer time to
trace the image

Image that the participant

has to trace

All participants are given

the same image

Participants who get a

different image might be
able to trace the image
quicker.

The sheet of paper that the

participant have to trace
the image on

All participants are given

the same size sheet of A4
paper to trace the image
on

Participants who have a

larger sheet of paper may
be able to trace the image
quicker

Pen that the participant

uses to trace the image

The same pen is given to

all participants of the
experiment

The pen that the

participant may affect the
participants speed in
tracing the image.

Position of the mirror on

the sheet of paper

The same pen sis given to

all participants of the
experiment

If the mirror is position

too close to the image, the
participant may struggle
with tracing the image and
may inadvertently end up
looking downward at the
image (rather than the
mirror)

Distance of participant
from the mirror

The participant is
instructed to sit with her
back towards the chair

Apparatus

A participant sitting close to

the mirror may be able to trace
the image quicker.

1)
2)
3)
4)

1 x Mirror (15cm by 10cm)

10 x A4 sheets of Paper with Figure 1 (See appendix) printed on it
1 x Black Pen
1 x Electronic Stopwatch (Measures time in second with an accuracy of 3
significant figures)
5) 10 students who are right hand dominant students should be female, in Year 7
and their dominant hand should be their right
6) Blue tack
Method
1) Ensure that the library is quiet before starting the experiment
2) Find a student willing to take part in the experiment and inform the student of
the nature of the experiment and that data will be calculated. Make sure that
the student signs the consent form before proceeding with the experiment
3) Bring the student to one of the alcoves in the library
4) Instruct the student to sit with her back facing the chair
5) Instruct the student to trace the image in a clockwise fashion from the point
labeled X on the image
6) Instruct the student to place the pen on the starting point and to start whenever
she feels comfortable
7) Attach the mirror to the edge of the A4 sheet of paper (with blue tack)
a. Note: The A4 sheet of paper should have the shape in Figure 1 on it.
The size of the shape should be the same for all 10 participants
8) Perform a demo for the participant (i.e. trace the image only looking at the
mirror and not at my hand or the paper)
9) Instruct the participant to trace the image first with her left hand then her right
hand
10) When the student starts to trace the image (i.e. when the pen starts to move
from the point labeled X), press start on the stopwatch
11) When the student finish tracing the image (i.e. when the pen has returned to
the point labeled X), press stop on the stopwatch
12) Repeat the experiment for 10 students

Ethics:

This experiment involves human participants

The participants were informed of the procedure before the experiment
began
The steps of the experiment (shown above) were given to the participants
They knew that the amount of time that they used to trace the image would
be recorded would be recorded
They were given the option to opt out of this experiment if they so wished

Qualitative data:
Qualitative data was collected in this experiment and added value to the experiment.
The majority of participants were hesitant and unconfident to trace the image of the
star with their left hand. They also made more mistakes when tracing the image with
their left. In contrast, the participants made fewer mistakes when tracing the image
with their right hand. 3 of the participants looked down at the image that they were
tracing rather than straight at the mirror like they were instructed to and were told to
stop doing that and to only look at the mirror.
Table 1:Average amount of time taken to trace the image with right hand in seconds (Uncertainty: 0.1
seconds)
Participant
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Average amount of time taken to trace the image with
right hand in seconds
(Uncertainty 0.1 seconds)

Time taken to trace the image with right hand

(In seconds 0.1 seconds)
14.12
12.14
15.49
11.71
16.93
13.44
12.42
14.50
11.94
16.76
13.94

Table 2: Average amount of time taken to trace the image with left hand in seconds (Uncertainty: 0.1
seconds)

Participant
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Average amount of time taken to trace the image
with left hand in seconds
(Uncertainty 0.1 seconds)

Time taken to trace the image with left hand

(In seconds 0.1 seconds)
13.54
17.92
16.43
10.34
15.13
14.51
12.84
19.01
16.42
12.41
14.85

Graph 1: Graph showing the average amount of time taken for the participant to trace
the image with their left and right hand. The error bars are obtained from the standard
deviation

Table 3: Processed data consisting of the average time taken to trace the image with
both left and right hand, the standard deviation and the value of the t-test conducted
Hand used

Average amount of time

taken to trace the image
(In seconds 0.1 seconds)

Right hand

13.94

1.96

Left hand

15.13

2.68

Standard Deviation

T-test Value
T = 1.6186

Sample calculation:
The average amount of time that it took for the participant(s) to trace the image was
sample
calculated in excel using the formula of all sample

Below is the calculation of average amount of time when participant used their right
hand to trace the image
14.12+12.14+ 15.49+11.71+16.93+13.44+12.42+14.5+11.94 +16.76
=13.94
10
The formula for standard deviation is
Excel.

and was calculated using

A T-test was used to calculate if there was a significant difference between the hand
used (i.e. dominant or non dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes
the tracing of the image. The T-test was calculated automatically in Excel using the
formula builder, it is demonstrated below. Note: the T-test perform was a paired T-test
as the same 10 participants were used, the 10 participants merely used both their left
and right hand to perform the experiment

Conclusion:
The result of the experiment did not support the hypothesis. When the
participants used their right hand, the average amount of time taken to trace the image
was shorter (13.94 seconds) compared to the average amount of time taken to trace
the image with their left hands (15.13 seconds). This is a difference of 1.19 seconds
it is 1.19 seconds slower to use ones left hand to perform the visual-spatial task
(mirror drawing) compared to using ones right hand. This is also illustrated on the
bar chart in which the bar chart in which the bar graph for the average time taken to
trace the image with the right hand is shorter than the one demonstrating the average
time taken for the participant to trace the image with their right hand. The T-test
conducted had a result of 1.61 which indicates that hand dominance does not have a
significant difference in the average time that it took the participant(s) to trace the star
in other words, participants, when using their left hand, did not perform the visualspatial task (mirror drawing) quicker compared to when they used their left hand.
Therefore, the results of the experiment do not support the hypothesis of the
experiment, in other words, there isnt a significant difference between the hand used
(i.e. dominant or non dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes the
tracing of the image. Those who used their non- dominant hand to perform the visualspatial mirrored drawing will complete the drawing faster compared to when they are
using their dominant hand, thus the alternative hypothesis is to a certain extent true
but the results of the experiment do not fully support the alternative hypothesis either
as there is no significant difference between the hand used (i.e. dominant or non
dominant) and the speed in which the participant completes the tracing of the image,
this indicates that the null hypothesis has some validity as well.
Additionally, the uncertainty of the experiment is quite small ( 0.1 seconds).
As mentioned at the start, the right hemisphere of the brain specializes in visual
spatial task and thus, a person who is right hand dominant, when using their left hand
will complete the visual-spatial task in a shorter amount of time. A similar experiment
conducted by Serrien and Spap investigated the effect of hand dominance on mirror
drawing supports the hypothesis of this experiment. However, rather than measuring
the amount of time it took for the participant to trace the image, Serrien and Spap
measured the neural activity of the participants and found out that while the right
hemisphere of the brain is superior to the left with the integration of spatial and
temporal information or visuomotor processing, when it comes to high-pressure
situation where the participants were supervised, neural processing is spread out
across the brain regions. Therefore, the experiment/study conducted by Serrien and
Spap suggests that there should be no significant difference in speed in the tracing of
the image; whether the participant uses their left or right hand.
That being said, the standard deviation of the experiment is quite large. When
using the right hand, the standard deviation is 1.96 and when using the left hand, the
standard deviation is 2.68. This has resulted in error bars that are quite large on Graph
1.
The highest (i.e. longest) recorded time taken to trace the image with the right
hand is 16.93 seconds whereas the highest (i.e. longest) recorded time when using the
left hand is 19.01 seconds, a difference of 2.08 seconds. Conversely, the lowest (i.e.
shortest) time recorded when the participant used their right hand is 11.74 seconds is
12.41 seconds, a difference of 0.64 seconds. The difference in time of 2.08 seconds is
more than 3 times of the difference of 0.64 seconds suggesting that a larger sample

size and /or the method have to be refined. Moreover, the error bars are quite large
suggesting that the results of the experiment are unreliable and further
experimentation has to be done. Additionally, although the study conducted by Serrien
and Spap suggests that the hand used by the participant should have no effect on the
time taken for them to trace the image (i.e. complete a mirror drawing a visual
spatial task), the sample size for Serrien and Spap is only 10 participants whereas the
study conducted by Springer and Deutsch that concluded that the non-dominant (i.e.
left) hand is more superior to the right when it comes to visual-spatial task was
conducted with 606 participants (both male and female) over a 3 month period
suggesting that Springer and Deutschs result and conclusion is more reliable. To sum
it up, more participants are required to participate in the experiment to form a
conclusion.
Sherman Ross in the University of Maryland conducted a similar experiment
but the results he published in the American Journal of Psychology were conflicting.
On one hand, it supports the initial hypothesis of the experiment; the first four trials
conducted by Ross suggest that the non-dominant hand is superior to the dominant but
with more trials, the difference between the hands became smaller and eventually, the
dominant hand demonstrated its superiority in mirror-drawing. The data collected by
Ross corresponds to mine, participant #1 and participant #5 both demonstrated the
superiority of their left hand (their non-dominant hand) as they traced the image in a
shorter amount of time with their left hand compared to their right. However, as seen
from the average time that it took all 10 participants to trace the image, the right hand
demonstrates its superiority over the left hand. Thus, similar to Ross, a larger number
of trials should be undertaken. It is important to keep in mind that trials here refer to
participant; the same participant should not be used more than twice (once with
his/her right hand and once with his/her left hand). Repeating the experiment multiple
time with the same participant would be detrimental as a result of learned behavior.
This is explored further below in the evaluation section
The qualitative data collected for the experiment adds some value to the
experiment in terms of formulating a conclusion. The participants of the experiment
felt less confident and more pressured when they were forced to use their left hand
and thus, they traced the image of the star slower.
Further investigation has to be done for this experiment. Namely, the use of
people who are left hand dominant and observing if they perform better with the left
(their dominant) hand or right (their non-dominant) hand. This is important to
determine if the right hemisphere of the brain is superior to the left, as those that are
left hand dominant will have a more developed left hemisphere. This experiment was
carried out with people who are right hand dominant only as there were not enough
people who were left hand dominant to carry out the experiment. In addition to that,
the accuracy of the participant in completing the mirror drawing should also be
investigated. For this experiment, only the speed was considered but some of the
participants when tracing the star went out of the line but this was not taken into
account.
Evaluation:
With regards to error bars, the amount of participants in this experiment
should be increased, as the error bars are quite large. As mentioned above, the sample
size is too small and has to be increased to have a more reliable and accurate data set.

The standard deviation for the average time when the left hand is used (2.68)
is quite high compared to the average time when the right hand was used to trace the
image (1.96) This also suggests that a larger sample size has to be used and/or a more
stringent process should be used to determine if the participants should participate in
the experiment. For example, participant #4 who took the shortest time to trace the
image with her left hand was an art student and should not have been used for the
experiment. The artistic ability of the students was not considered for the students and
may have affected the reliability of the experiment.
The range of the independent variable (hand used) is to a certain extent
appropriate. Students who were right hand dominant used both their right hand and
left hand to trace the image but due to the fact that there were not enough people who
were left hand dominant, they were not used for this experiment. Thus, the experiment
was only able to determine if people who were right hand dominant performed visualspatial task better with their non-dominant hand. The way that the dependent variable
(the time taken to trace the image) is producing sufficient result, although more
scientific and accurate method could have been used in which the neural activity of
the left and right hemisphere is measured. However, this would not have been feasible
as I had no access to the equipment that Serrien and Spap did as they conducted their
experiment in a university laboratory. The T-test used for this experiment is producing
results, indicating that there isnt a significant difference (between the dominant and
non-dominant hand) in time spent on tracing the image.
Source of error
Participant would sometimes look at their
hand rather than at the mirror

The occurrence of learned behavior (or

procedural memory) as a result of the
participant having two trials in tracing
the image as well
Participants being able to witness other
participants performing the task first
which may also lead to the occurrence of
learned behavior

Explanation
Due to the way that the experiment was
set up, participant would occasionally
peer down to look at the image that they
were tracing rather than looking at the
mirror and tracing the image. This would
affect the accuracy of the results, as it
would not measure the speed in which the
participant completed a visual-spatial task
but merely the speed in which the
participant could trace the image.
Therefore, for future experiments, the
experiment should be constructed in a
fashion similar to Figure 2 (Refer to
Appendix), thus the participant are unable
to see their hand while tracing the image.
The phenomena of learned behavior is
present in this experiment. In a mirror
drawing task, tracing the image is part of
the participants procedural memory, one
the participant figured out how to draw
the image in the mirror, they will have
little difficulty the second time.
Procedural memory is created through
procedural learning or repeating a
complex activity, which leads to the
relevant neural system to work together
and automatically produce the activity. In

Continued from previous page

other words, because the participants

were first instructed to trace the image
with their left hand, then their right hand,
the time taken for them to trace the image
with their right hand could be unreliable
as they are more familiar and experienced
with mirror drawing the second time.
Furthermore, participants were able to
witness other participants tracing the
image before them which could also lead
to learned behavior as they could have
potentially learn from the mistakes of
other participants. Moreover, this also
means that participants were familiar
with the image that they were supposed
to trace after seeing other people trace it.
Therefore, to eliminate this source of
error in future experiment, the first five
(or 50% of the total number of
participant) should use their dominant
hand followed by their non-dominant
hand, whereas the other 5 (or the other
50% of the total number of participant)
should use their non-dominant hand
followed by their dominant hand. Doing
this will eliminate any unreliability that
may arise from learned behavior and the
procedural memory of the participant.

Artistic ability of the participant

Participants should also be separated

from each other so that they would not be
able to see the image that they ere
suppose to trace until it was their turn to
perform the experiment. This would also
prevent participants from observing other
participants performing the experiment.
As I later found out, participant # 4 who
took the shortest amount of time to trace
the image with her left hand was an art
student. This leads to an unreliable set of
results as it is assumed that art student
would perform better in an artistic task
such as mirror drawing. Therefore in
future experiment, participants who are
artistically inclined should be excluded
from the experiment.

Difficult to tell when the participant was

finished tracing the image

Interval between the two times that the

participant had to trace the image

Noise of the room

There was a time lag, as the participant

would sometimes shout that they were
finished before they were actually
finished or only after they were finished
because they forgot the instructions given
to them. This would thus lead to
inaccurate results, as the results would
not reflect the time taken for the
participant to trace the image. To rectify
this error, electronic equipment such as a
Wacom Electronic Tablet and Stylus
should be used. Doing so would allow for
an accurate measurement of time taken
by the participant to trace the image, as
the electronic stylus would automatically
detect when the stylus has been lifted off
the tablet. Thus, there is no need to rely
on the participant indicating that he/she is
done with tracing the image.
Some of the participants took a short
break before switching to their dominant
(right) hand to trace the image whereas
others just proceeded straight away to
trace the image. This may have lead to
participants who had a short break to
perform better with their right hand
compared to the participants who
proceeded straight away to using their
dominant hand to trace the image. To
rectify this, participants should be given a
timed break of 20 seconds before they
have to resume the experiment
The library turned out to be noisier than I
expected due to the fact the experiment
was conducted at break time. This
distracted some of the participants, which
may have negatively affected their ability
to perform the visual-spatial task (mirror
drawing)
This experiment should have been
conducted at a time where no one was at
the experiment such as after school.

Mental state of the participant

As mentioned in the study conducted by

Springer and Deutsch, participants when
in a high-pressured and supervised
environment would rely on both
hemisphere of the brain and thus slowing
down the execution of the task to perform
the task. Therefore, in my experiment,
participants who were feeling stressed out
may perform worse compared to those
feeling relaxed as those feeling stressed
out would have rely on both hemispheres
of their brain to perform the task. To
combat this, participants should not be
supervised so as to not to stress them out.
If an electronic tablet and stylus were
used, there would be no need to supervise
the experiment, as the data would be
automatically collected. On the other
hand, the mental state of the participant is
difficult to manipulate and telling the
participant to just relax may not lead to
them feeling less pressured.

Works Cited

Deborah J. Serrien, Michiel M. Spap. "The role of hand dominance and sensorimotor
congruence in voluntary movement." 199. 2 (2009): 195.
Web.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3284250/.

Handedness and Mirror-Drawing. The American Journal of Psychology, 64. 1 (1951):

103-105. JSTOR. Web.http://www.jstor.org/stable/1418601?origin=JSTOR-pdf.

Legon, Wynn, Jennifer K Dionne, Sean K Meehan and W Richard Staines. "Nondominant hand movement facilitates the frontal N30 somatosensory evoked
potential." BMC neuroscience, 11. 1 (2010): 112. Print.

Springer, S.P. and G. Deutsch, 1997. Left Brain, Right Brain: Perspective from
Cognitive Neuroscience. 5th Edn., W.H. Freeman and Company, New York.