Previous studies have argued that a person’s ability to write legibly with the non-dominant hand after a limited amount of practice suggests that manual skill can be easily transferred. The present study investigated the degree to which handedness can be altered by short-term practice on the highly complex manual activity of handwriting. Nine strongly right-handed individuals practiced writing with their left hand daily for 15 consecutive days. On three occasions, at baseline, at the end of the practice period and after a one-month retention interval, the similarity of left- and right-hand writing was inspected and handedness was tested by means of the Purdue Pegboard as well as handedness questionnaires. All participants demonstrated more legible writing with their left hand after practice, and the writing was more similar to that of their preferred, right-hand writing, although to different degrees. Pegboard performance improved with the left hand, but equally as much with the right, and there were no other changes in participants’ manual preference patterns. The findings of the present study do not indicate any degree of change in handedness, outside the impressive progress in left-hand writing. The large inter-individual variability, suggests that further research should focus on more individual analyses.

先前的研究认为，经过有限的练习后，一个人可以用非惯用的手进行清晰书写的能力表明，手工技能很容易转移。本研究调查了在高度复杂的手写手动活动中通过短期练习可以改变手写性的程度。九名惯用右手的人连续15天每天用左手练习写作。在基线，练习期结束和保留一个月后的三种情况下，检查了左手书写和右手书写的相似性，并通过Purdue Pegboard以及惯用性问卷对惯用性进行了测试。 。练习后，所有参与者的左手书写都更加清晰易读，尽管程度不同，但其写作与他们偏爱的右手写作更相似。左手提高了Pegboard的性能，但右手提高了Pegboard的性能，参与者的手动偏好模式没有其他变化。除了左手书写的令人印象深刻的进展外，本研究的结果并未表明手法的任何变化。个体之间的较大差异表明，进一步的研究应侧重于更多的个体分析。在左手写作方面取得了令人瞩目的进展。个体之间的较大差异表明，进一步的研究应侧重于更多的个体分析。在左手写作方面取得了令人瞩目的进展。个体之间的较大差异表明，进一步的研究应侧重于更多的个体分析。