Motor-Dexterity Test
Motor-dexterity tests are often used in psychological studies,
especially in neuropsychology. For this task, we are going to test
motor-dexterity while looking for signs of frustration. First, take a
clean pair of rolled-up socks or some other soft item. Then, have
the participants throw it into a hoop you make with your arms. The
objective is not to see how well they do the task but to see which
hand they use; you are trying to determine dominance. After doing
this task, ask the participants which hand they prefer to use when
writing. While most will prefer the right, some will prefer the left. If
a person says both, ask that individual to write a sentence with
both hands, one at a time and the two of you can decide which
hand to call dominant. In most cases, people will report they use
the right hand more, and they will also unintentionally pick the
right hand to throw the object with. If they report left and use the
right hand to throw, then record that as mixed, but select the hand
they choose as dominant. In the end, you will go with what the
participant decides. You are required to record all information on
the data sheet.
This study involved ten participants. The researcher timed how
fast each person put fifteen toothpicks into a mug with each hand.
To reduce a significant difference being caused by practice
effects, five of the participants started with their dominant hand
(DH) and the next set of five started with their nondominant hand
(NDH). While they were doing the task, the researcher rated the
level of frustration while performing with one hand and then the
other one. The researcher was careful not to allow experimenter
bias to influence what he or she recorded. Here is the scale used
to rate frustration:
Very
Frustrated
Not Very
Frustrated
Look at the data sheet:
The hypotheses for the study were:
• People will perform the motor-dexterity task faster with their
DH as compared to their NDH.
• People will show more frustration while using the NDH.
Determine the average time with the motor-dexterity test, along
with the standard deviation, and then use Microsoft Excel to
analyze the data with a paired t-test to see if there is a significant
performance difference between the two hands. Run another
paired t-test to see if there is a difference in frustration (FL) while
using the DH versus the NDH. Obtain the results and decide if the
hypotheses are supported. Write a summary of the findings.
Submit the results and summary of the findings in a 3- to 4-page
Microsoft Word document.
5 4 3 2 1
Participant
#
Start
with
NDH
(seconds)
FL-NDH DH
(seconds)
FL-DH
1 Right 7 3 6 1
2 Right 10 4 8 2
3 Right 9 3 8 2
4 Left 6 2 7 3
5 Right 8 4 6 1
6 Left 12 5 9 1
7 Left 8 1 7 1
8 Right 11 3 10 2
9 Left 8 2 8 2
10 Left 13 5 9 3