Citation

Hoffmann E, Halliday J. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 1997; 19(1): 41-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated the learning and performance ability of left-handers in comparison to right-handers in psychomotor tasks. Ten left-handers and 10 right-handers were observed assembling 24 hacksaws and 39 U-bolts and their learning and performance was measured. No significant difference between the performance and learning ability of left-handers in comparison to right-handers was found in either task. Analysis of variance showed that there was significant learning in the first to trials during the U-bolt assembly and in the first five trials during the Hacksaw assembly. The standard deviations for each trial again showed no significant differences between left- and right-handers. A significant decrease in the standard deviation was found in the first three trials of Hacksaw assembly.Left- and righ-handed workers are commonly used in assembly tasks. Previous work has suggested that right-handers may be better in their learning of motor tasks. This research shows that, for real assembly work, there is no difference in performance of left- and right-handed persons, thus no special selection criteria are needed.