Reading habits and line bisection: a developmental approach

Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1995 Dec;3(1):51-8. doi: 10.1016/0926-6410(95)00018-6.

Abstract

120 normal right-handed subjects, children and adults, with opposite reading habits (60 French, left-to-right readers, 60 Israeli, right-to-left readers) and 60 pre-school children (30 French and 30 Israeli), were submitted to a visuo-motor bisection task. Bisection is found to be dependent upon reading habits with a leftward deviation of the subjective middle for left-to-right readers, and a rightward bias for right-to-left readers. Even before formal reading learning, French and Israeli pre-school children differ significantly in bisecting a line. Results are discussed with respect to hemispheric activation theories and directional hypotheses.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Habits
  • Humans
  • Learning / physiology
  • Male
  • Reading*