The Effect of Handedness and Gender Differences in The Finger Counting Habits in Primary School Children

Manual preference in the students affects on their learning in the school and daily life. The goal of the present study was to test whether there is a relationship between manual preference and sexuality with finger counting habits in (74) primary school children.
Manual laterality was evaluated with The Handedness Questionnaire of Chapman and Chapman (1987) and finger counting habits in children were examined with interview.
Findings: The results indicated that whereas most left-handers started counting with the left hand, most of the right-handers started with the right hand. The transition between the two hands during the counting showed equal proportions of symmetry-based and spatial continuity-based patterns among the left-handers and right-handers. No significant difference was found between boys and girls in finger counting habits. These findings demonstrated that manual laterality contributes to finger counting directionality.
Taken together, these results indicate that finger-counting habits integrate biological and cultural information.