Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
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.
Type of variable
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
Type of variable
experiment
A male participant might
be able to trace the image
quicker compared to a
female participant
Participants will be
instructed to trace the
image in a clockwise
direction
A noisy environment
might disturb the
participants concentration
and thus the participant
may take a longer time to
trace the image
Distance of participant
from the mirror
The participant is
instructed to sit with her
back towards the chair
Apparatus
1)
2)
3)
4)
Ethics:
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)
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)
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
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.
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
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
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/.
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.