Re: What is hand/eye co-ordination? Which side of the brain is best ?

Dear Helen,

Hand-eye coordination refers to the interaction between the visual system and the motor system which allows people to use visual guidance to successfully grasp, manipulate and throw objects. Basically, people with good hand-eye coordination are those that can use their eyes (what they see) to guide their hand movements (what they do) with great precision. Athletes and artists are usually very good at this.

Hand-eye coordination develops quite early in the toddler, and all sorts of clever toys are designed to enhance these skills from an early age. Although the functions of the two hemispheres (sides of the brain) are less clearly differentiated in infants than in adults, the right hand of infants, like that of adults, is controlled by the left side of the brain and vice-versa.

About 90% of humans are right-handed (much better at controlling their right hand than their left hand). Therefore, you can say that their left hemisphere is better at coordinating hand movement with visual input that the right hemisphere. In left handers, the right hemisphere is better and in very few people, called ambidextrous, both hands are equally skilled and both hemispheres are therefore equally efficient at this task.

I you want to learn more about the difference between the two sides of our brain, have a look at the most complete and well written volume on the topic, Hellige’s Hemispheric Asymmetry (2000).

I hope this answers your question.
Cheers !
Benoit

References:
Hellige (2001) Hemispheric Asymmetry. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.