Eye-hand preference in military officers

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the prevalence of rightleft eye preferences and the relationship of eye preference to handedness and task factors. The experimental task was a sighting task. The independent variables were direction of sighting (two levels) and hand used in sighting (right or left). The dependent variable was the eye used in sighting. Handedness was defined as the hand used in writing. Each of 98 Ss underwent 12 sighting trials which replicated the 4 sighting conditions 3 times. 68.3 percent of all Ss gave 12 unilateral eye responses. Using 9 out of 12 unilateral eye responses as a criterion of eye preference, there were 69 right-eyed Ss (67 right-handed, 2 left-handed), 20 left-eyed Ss (15 right-handed, 5 left-handed) and 9 Ss (9 right-handed, left-handed) who showed no eye preference. The phi-coefficient between eye preference and handedness for those showing eye preference was .34. Analysis of the responses of those showing a mixed preference showed a significant task effect.