Lateral preference profiles and right shift attempt histories of consistent and inconsistent left-handers Alan Searleman a, * and Clare Porac b a Department of Psychology, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617-1475, USA b School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Accepted 24 March 2003 Abstract Differencesinabilitiesandpreferencesexistbetweenleft-handerswhobothwriteandthrowwiththeirlefthands(consistent left- handers)andthosewhowritewiththeirlefthandbutprefertothrowwiththeirright(inconsistent left-handers).Itisalsoknownthat many left-handers are pressured to switch to right-hand writing, and that these pressures can lead to a right shift attempt. The present study is the first to explore the joint effects of the consistent/inconsistent left-handedness dichotomy, right shift attempt history,andlateralpreferenceprofiles.Testing379Canadianadultsbetweentheagesof18and94indicatedthat,whilebothtypesof left-handers were equally likely to experience a right shift attempt, the inconsistent left-handers were more likely to successfully switchtoright-handwriting.Furtheranalysesrevealedthatthrowinghandwasmoreassociatedthanwritinghandwiththedirection of sidedness for a lateral preference index based upon eye, foot, and ear preferences. More specifically, right-hand throwers were muchmorelikelytohavearightwardlateralpreferencescorethanwereleft-handthrowers,regardlessofcurrentpreferredwriting hand.Overall,theresultssupportanhypothesisthattheleft-handerswhoareleastlikelytosubmittorightwardswitchpressuresare those with the strongest, most consistent left-sided lateral preference profile. Ó 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. Keywords: Left-handedness; Lateral preferences; Right shift attempts; Consistent/inconsistent left-handers 1. Introduction A number of researchers have become interested in examining the differing preferences, characteristics, and abilities of people who can be characterized as being either consistent or inconsistent left-handers(e.g.,Gilbert & Wysocki, 1992; Harris, 1990; McManus, Porac, Bry- den,&Boucher,1999;Peters,1990a,1990b,1996,1998; Peters & Pang, 1992; Peters & Servos, 1989; Porac & Friesen, 2000). Consistent left-handers prefer to use their left hands for most activities, whereas inconsistent left-handers prefer to rely on their left hands primarily for fine motor skills and to prefer their right hands for activitiesthatinvolvestrengthorballisticmovements.In terms of operational definitions, left-handers are often classified as being consistent if they both write and throwwiththeirlefthandswhile,incontrast,individuals whowritewiththeirlefthandsbutthrowwiththeirright are considered to have an inconsistent hand preference profile. Asiswellknown,manyleft-handers(especiallyolder ones) have experienced considerable pressures to switch from left- to right-hand writing (Galobardes, Bernstein, &Morabia,1999;Hugdahl,Satz,Mitrushina,&Miller, 1993; Porac, 1993, 1996; Porac, Coren, & Searleman, 1986; Porac & Friesen, 2000; Porac, Friesen, Barnes, & Gruppuso, 1998; Porac & Searleman, 2002; Searleman &Porac,2001;Siebneretal.,2002).Thesepressuresfor a shift in writing hand preference result in what often has been called a right shift attempt. Among left-hand- ers, there is great diversity in their responses to such pressure—some experience a right shift attempt and are successful in switching to right-hand writing, some ex- periencetheattemptbutarenotsuccessful,whileathird subset of left-handers report never even attempting to switch to right-hand writing. Brain and Cognition 52 (2003) 175–180 www.elsevier.com/locate/b&c * Corresponding author. Fax: 1-315-229-7427. E-mail address: asearleman@stlawu.edu (A. Searleman). 0278-2626/03/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0278-2626(03)00053-8