This volume adds new dimension and organization to the literature of touch and the hand, covering a diversity of topics surrounding the perception and cognition of touch in relation to the hand. No animal species compare to humans with regard to the haptic (or touch) sense, so unlike visual or auditory cognition, we know little about such haptic cognition. We do know that motor skills play a major role in haptics, but senses like vision do not determine hand preference or hand ability. It seems also that the potential ability to perform a task may be present in both hands and evidence indicates that the hand used to perform tactile tasks in blind or in sighted conditions is independent of one’s hand preference. This book will be useful for those in education and robotics and can serve as a general text focusing on touch and developmental psychology.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000229 EndHTML:0000004007 StartFragment:0000002898 EndFragment:0000003971 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/rhodaperhardt/Documents/Business%20docs/Publications/HandPrefBook/HandPrefDescription.doc This book is for therapists, teachers, and parents who are trying to answer these questions: What are the most important things we need to know about hand preference, and its relevance to function? What can we do to help a child who has problems with functional skills such as handwriting, which may or may not relate to inconsistent handedness? Highlights: Theoretical Concepts, Normal Components of Hand Preference, Testing Methods, Identification of Functional Problems and Practical Interventions, CD-Rom, including the Erhardt Hand Preference Assessment (EHPA), the EHPA-S (Short Screening Form), and the Documentation of Hand Preference and Quality of Performance, to print unlimited copies for clinical or educational purposes

Genes and kangaroos -- Criminals or victims? Cesare Lombroso vs. Robert Hertz -- By the numbers : measuring handedness -- Ambiguous attitudes -- Changing hands, tying tongues -- From genes to populations : the search for a cause -- The geschwind hypothesis -- Genetic models and selective advantage -- Uniquely human? -- A gay hand? -- Disability, ability, and the left hand -- Conclusion : does left-handedness matter?

Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama have both signed bills into law with their left hands. And being left-handed certainly did not hold back the artistic achievements of Michelangelo or Raphael. And the dexterous guitar playing of Jimmi Hendrix may only have been aided by his southpaw tendencies. Left-handedness, in fact, would appear to be no big deal. Yet throughout history, it has been associated with clumsiness and generally dubious personality traits like untrustworthiness and insincerity. Even the Latin word for left, sinister, has ominous connotations. In The Puzzle of Left-handedness, Rik Smits uncovers why history has been so unkind to our lefthanded forebears. He carefully puts together the pieces of the puzzle, presenting an array of historical anecdotes, strange superstitions, and weird wives’ tales. Smits explains how left-handedness continues to be associated with maladies of all kinds, including mental retardation, alcoholism, asthma, hay fever, cancer, diabetes, insomnia, depression, and criminality. Even in the enlightened twenty-first century, left-handedness still meets with opposition—including from one prominent psychologist who equates it with infantile negativism, similar to a toddler’s refusal to eat what’s on his plate, and another who claims that left-handed people have average lifespans that are nine years shorter than those who favor the right hand. As Smits reminds us, such speculation is backed by little factual evidence, and the arguments presented by proponents of right-handedness tend to be humorously absurd. The Puzzle of Left-handedness is an enlightening, engaging, and entertaining odyssey through the puzzles and paradoxes, theories and myths, of left-handed lore. Chock full of facts and fiction, it’s a book to be read with both hands.

This comprehensive resource and clinical guide for students and practicing pediatric therapists features current information on the neurological foundations of hand skills, the development of hand skills, and intervention with children who have problems related to hand skills. Covers foundation and development of hand skills, therapeutic intervention, and special problems and approaches. Is readable, concise, and well-organized with a consistent format throughout. Integrates recent research findings and current thinking throughout the text. Emphasizes neuroscience and the hand's sensory function and haptic perception. Applies neuroscience and development frames of reference throughout. Implications for practice included in each chapter. Presents concepts in the foundation/development chapters that are linked with the intervention chapters. Seven new chapters reflect current practice in the field and cover cognition & motor skills, handedness, fine-motor program for preschoolers, handwriting evaluation, splinting the upper extremity of the child, pediatric hand therapy, and efficacy of interventions. Extensively revised content throughout includes new research and theories, new techniques, current trends, and new information sources. 9 new contributors offer authoritative guidance in the field. Over 200 new illustrations demonstrate important concepts with new clinical photographs and line drawings. Over 50 new tables and boxes highlight important information. An updated and expanded glossary defines key terms.

Brain asymmetry for speech is moderately related to handedness but what are the rules? Are symmetries for hand and brain associated with characteristics such as intelligence, motor skill, spatial reasoning or skill at sports? In this follow up to the influential Left, Right Hand and Brain (1985) Marian Annett draws on a working lifetime of research to help provide answers to crucial questions. Central to her argument is the Right Shift Theory - her original and innovative contribution to the field that seeks to explain the relationships between left-and right-handedness and left-and right-brain specialisation. The theory proposes that handedness in humans and our non-human primate relations depends on chance but that chance is weighted towards right-handedness in most people by an agent of right-hemisphere disadvantage. It argues for the existence of a single gene for right shift (RS+) that evolved in humans to aid the growth of speech in the left hemisphere of the brain. The Right Shift Theory has possible implications for a wide range of questions about human abilities and disabilities, including verbal and non verbal intelligence, educational progress and dyslexia, spatial reasoning, sporting skills and mental illness. It continues to be at the cutting edge of research, solving problems and generating new avenues of investigation - most recently the surprising idea that a mutant RS+ gene might be involved in the causes of schizophrenia and autism. Handedness and Brain Asymmetry will make fascinating reading for students and researchers in psychology and neurology, educationalists, and anyone with a keen interest in why people have different talents and weaknesses.