The functional asymmetry of Braille letter learning in normal, sighted children

Eighty right-handed children (40 boys, 40 girls) aged 7 to 14 were taught to read 12 Braille letters by palpation, using a paired associates method. Forty learned six letters with their left hand and then six other letters with their right; the left-right order was reversed for the remaining 40. Although language is involved, this tactile-verbal paired associate learning ultimately is better accomplished by the left hand. The results are discussed in terms of other demonstrations that (1) the left hand may be superior to the right on spatial tasks that exclude vision, (2) girls develop more slowly in the performance of left-sided (right-hemisphere-dependent) tasks, and (3) girls depend more than boys on left-hemisphere mediation.