Title

Brain hemispheric preference of intellectually gifted children

Abstract

The results of this study indicate that students in the gifted program differed significantly in frequency of left and right brain dominance according to the sex of the students. However, I.Q. was not related to degree of brain dominance nor was there a difference in the intelligence quotients of the right brain dominant and left brain dominant gifted students. Previous studies have indicated that brain dominance (right or left) is predictive of achievement in certain skill areas. This would not appear to be true among gifted children. The results of this study do suggest that brain dominance may be a predictor of the sex of intellectually gifted students in upper elementary and junior high school years. This finding appears to be consistent with other findings concerning sex and achievement. Among lower elementary students, girls have been found to develop at a rate that may put them as much as a year ahead of boys by age six. And, by age nine, they may be as much as eighteen months ahead of boys (Durden-Smith and de Simone). In the sample of intellectually gifted in this study, the boys tended to demonstrate right brain preference (dominance) and girls a left preference. This finding seems consistent with other findings which suggest that the relationship between sex and hemispheric dominance may have a biological and hormonal basis (Diamond, 1965).

Department(s)

Childhood Education and Family Studies

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/02783198709553100

Publication Date

1-1-1987

Journal Title

Roeper Review

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