European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

HAND PREFERENCE AND COGNITIVE ABILITY OF STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT, CHOBA, RIVERS STATE

David L. K.* and Yorkum L. K.

ABSTRACT

Handedness is the natural or biological preference for using one hand more than the other in performing special tasks depending on which hemisphere is dominance for the task (Rice, 1998). People are said to be left-handed if they use right most of the time, and right-handed if they prefer left hand. People are referred to be ambidextrous, if they both hands are equally used perfectly and approximately on equal amount of the time. Correlation of biological traits with the handedness proves the relationship between handedness and biology (Jaffe, 1998). Cerebral cortex of the forebrain, which controls intellectual, motor and sensory functions, is divided into two hemisphere of the brain each performs specialized functions. Lateralization is the preference for using one side of the body more than the other in performing special tasks depending upon, which hemisphere is dominant. The reason why lateralization occurs is not yet clear (Rice, 1998).

Keywords: .