Abstract
This experiment examined the development of the hemispheric specialization and interaction of tactile recognition by the comparison of performance levels in three age groups, i.e. 24 children, 21 adults, and 15 aged people, with the mean ages of 5 yr 7 mo, 22 yr 5 mo and 72 yr 5 mo, respectively. They consisted of right handed males and females in similar numbers, and manifested no abnormality. Stimuli employed were seven random figures approximately 4×4×0.3cm in size and placed 30cm apart at the front of the subjects. Results of the successive interhemispheric matching task revealed that 1) the adults showed the highest and the children showed the worst performance levels among the three groups and 2) the superiority of the left-hand-first condition to the right-hand-first condition was shown in the children whereas no such difference due to hand orders appeared in either the adults or the aged groups. Based on these results, the development on the interhemispheric interaction and hemispheric specialization was discussed.
