Left-handers look before they leap: handedness influences reactivity to novel Tower of Hanoi tasks

Abstract

A sample of 203 task naïve left- and right-handed participants were asked to complete a combination of the 3- and 4-disk Towers of Hanoi (ToH), manipulating novelty and complexity. Self-reported state anxiety and latency to respond (initiation time) were recorded before each ToH. Novelty had a major effect on initiation time, particularly for left-handers. Left-handers had a longer latency to start and this was significantly longer on the first trial. Irrespective of hand-preference, initiation time reduced on the second trial, however, this was greatest for left-handers. Condition of task did not systematically influence initiation time for right handers, but did for left-handers. State anxiety was influenced by task novelty and complexity in a more complicated way. During the first trial, there was a significant handedness × number of disks interaction with left-handers having significantly higher state anxiety levels before the 3-disk ToH. This suggests that the initial reaction to this task for left-handers was not simply due to perceived difficulty. On their second trial, participants completing a novel ToH had higher state anxiety scores than those completing a repeated version. Overall, left-handers had a larger reduction in their state anxiety across trials. Relating to this, the expected strong positive correlation between state and trait anxiety was absent for left-handed females in their first tower presentation, but appeared on their second. This was driven by low trait anxiety individuals showing a higher state anxiety response in the first (novel) trial, supporting the idea that left-handed females respond to novelty in a way that is not directly a consequence of their trait anxiety. A possible explanation may be stereotype threat influencing the behavior of left-handed females.

Baseline cortisol levels and social behavior differ as a function of handedness in marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

“…The data are more consistent when emotional processing is considered and remarkably in line with the human findings (reviewed in Wright & Hardie, ) in suggesting that left‐handers have more trait anxiety and behavioral inhibition than right‐handers (Rogers, ). In one study, Gordon and Rogers () examined the cognitive bias of marmosets in response to ambiguous cues that could be interpreted as positive or negative.…”

“…While evidence for a link between handedness and cognitive ability remains unclear in humans, the data are more consistent with regard to emotional processing. Indeed, several studies have reported that left‐handers are more anxious than right‐handers (Davidson & Schaffer, ; Hicks & Pellegrini, ; Merckelbach, de Ruiter, & Olff, ; Wright & Hardie, ), take longer to start a task, especially if it is novel (Wright & Hardie, ; Wright & Hardie, ; Wright, Hardie, & Rodway, ) and exhibit a greater increase in heart rate than right‐handers when confronted to a physical stressor (cold stressor and handgrip dynamometry tests; Jaju, Dikshit, Purandare, & Raje, ). These findings are generally consistent with the idea that left‐handers are more behaviorally inhibited than right‐handers (Wright, Hardie, & Wilson, ), a characteristic traditionally associated with right hemisphere processing (Sutton & Davidson, ).…”

Handedness and social anxiety: Using Bryden's research as a catalyst to explore the influence of familial sinistrality and degree of handedness

“…Using the context of an experimental situation, Wright and Hardie (2012) found left-handers had significantly higher state anxiety scores, even when controlling for levels of trait anxiety. Building on this, Wright and Hardie (2015) found that state anxiety of left-handed females was higher than would be expected, when solving a novel puzzle. However, when the puzzle was no longer novel, female left-handers demonstrated the usual finding of state anxiety correlating with trait anxiety.…”

“…In addition, the present findings may have been influenced by the context of testing, as it was on-line and so had no particular event that might elicit anxiety. In previous work we have hypothesised that this may be a perquisite in order for left-handers to show differences in inhibitory behaviour (Wright & Hardie, 2011;Wright & Hardie, 2015). It may be the case that social anxiety differences may also only be found on state-like measures, requiring a context for social anxieties to be manifest in and this should be tested in the future.…”

Handedness, Earnings, Ability and Personality. Evidence from the Lab

“…Related studies show that L have higher self-reported behavioral inhibition [37, 38], with higher inhibition for L females [39] and longer latency before starting a task [40, 41]. Finally, L show initially higher anxiety due to task novelty [42] while it subsequently decreases with the number of tasks [43]. …”