RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SINISTRALITY AND RIGHT CEREBRAL HEMISPHERE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN A SELECT SAMPLE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

This study was undertaken in an effort to discover whether or not there is a relationship between sinistrality, or lefthandedness, and right cerebral hemisphere cognitive functions, specifically, divergent thinking. Subjects for the study consisted of a random sample of male and female college students taken from both two-year and four-year institutions. The sample included both sinistral and dextral subjects and it was limited to non-art majors who were tested in non-art courses. The null hypothesis being tested was that no relationship exists between the independent variable, handedness, and the dependent variable, divergent thinking. Using an Analysis of Variance, the null hypothesis was tested. Scores of sinistrals and dextrals were compared which were obtained from tests employing the Minnesota Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance's Picture Construction Task) and the Falletta Test of Divergent Thinking. In all cases, no significant difference was found at a .05 level of confidence. As a result of the findings, several possible conclusions may be considered: (1) There is no relationship between the variables of sinistrality and divergent thinking; (2) The sample size was too small to be a substantial representation of the population; (3) The instruments used were not sensitive enough to measure the degree of divergent thinking of each subject tested; (4) A combination of these three factors may have contributed to the findings. A follow-up study altering one or more of the above mentioned variables may result in a different set of findings.