For today’s adventure, I took two versions of the Edinburgh handedness test. What’s interesting about this test, is that it does not seek to answer the question “Are you right or left-handed?” Rather, it seeks to answer the question “To what degree are you right or left-handed.”

The results from both tests show that I am a “mixed right-hander.” So, I have a preference for doing some things with my right hand, some with my left, and for some things I have no preference at all ~ but the lean is towards the right.

In the first version of the test , the scale ranged from -100 (completely left-handed, or complete left hand preference), to +100 (completely right-handed or right hand preference). For this test I scored a laterality index of 45 on the basic test and 43 on the augmented test, putting me in the middle decile. There was no interpretation key for this test, but the conclusion I drew was that I had a slightly expressed preference for the right hand, but had a fair degree of “mixed handedness” (I think that is the technical term!)

In the second version of the test , the scale ranged from +1 to -1, and I reported at +0.4 . This test does offer an interpretation of your results, and labelled my score as “mixed right-handedness.”

It is certainly true that I have a distinct preference for doing some things with my right hand and some with my left, I also know that there are some activities for which either hand is used without preference. I’m not exactly sure what conclusions I should draw from this test, or what my next line of enquiry should be. What I can say is this though : I’d never considered the degree of my handedness before taking these tests!

If you’re curious about your own degree of handedness, why not take the tests and let me know what you discover!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT