No Association between Music Ability and Hand Preference in Children

ABSTRACT

Hand preference was studied in 2 groups of children—children with musical ability and children without musical ability—to examine whether particular markers that may connect with handedness patterns, such as bias away from dextrality or mixed-handedness, stabilize during childhood and are associated with musical ability. Children were administered the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory to determine levels of right, left, and mixed handedness. Results demonstrated no differences in hand preference between both cohorts of children, suggesting the relative independence of musical ability and handedness. However, the inclusion of handedness as a motor marker for musical ability in children in conjunction with other preexisting neurocognitive factors cannot be entirely discounted.

Keywords:

• children
• handedness
• lateralization
• motor learning

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

During the conduct of this study, Dr. Ortiz was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health Career Development Research Award (1 K01 MH067099–01A1). The authors thank the New York City Public Schools for their cooperation in this study.