Hand Dominance and WAIS-R Block Design Performance

Background: Several studies have examined various factors that affect block design test performance, yet none has examined the effect of hand dominance. Block design performance is used as a measure of visuospatial functioning. It is important, therefore, to assess whether handedness influences performance because the results could affect the treatment and management of different patient groups. Therefore, we aimed to detect whether right- and left-handed groups perform differently on the block design test, which could improve the management of patients.

Methods: Twenty normal healthy subjects were recruited, with an equal number of right- (RH) and left-handed (LH) subjects (n=10 in each group). Age and education were matched between the groups. All participants completed the block design test to assess their visuospatial functioning. Mediana, minimum (min) and maximum (max) scores were calculated and compared between the two groups. A non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was done using SPSS 22 to find mean Rank, Sum of Rank and significance values between these two groups.

Results: There was no significant difference between the mean block design test scores of the two groups. The right-handed group scored slightly higher than the left-handed group.

Conclusion: Right- and left-handed people have similar visuospatial memory performance, but those who are right-handed may perform slightly better. A larger sample size is needed to ensure the reliability of the results.