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opposite movements than in normal children.
There was a similar tendency to excess of
opposite movements in drawing a circle and
angular figures singly, though the differences
between brain-damaged and normal children were
not statistically significant
In drawing vertical and oblique lines, the
preponderant tendency was downwards. As would
be expected, there were more errors in copying
the slope of oblique lines (Table III) and in
copying angular figures than in normal children.
The errors in copying parallel obliques simultaneously
due to a tendency to opposite movements,
was greater (p—=-0 01) than in normal
chiIdren.
Discussion
In making single movements with either hand,
there was a strong tendency for them to be
dextrad in drawing a horizontal line, downwards
in drawing a vertical, and anticlockwise fa the
circle and closed angular figures. In general,
our results agree with those of Gese ll and Ames
(1946), who studied the direction of drawing
movements made by one hand (not hidden) . In
seven-year-old children they found the movements
were downwards in drawing a vertical, from left
to right for a horizontal and predominantly anticlockwise
for a circle. For the square, the predominant
pattern was a continuous line anticlockwise
(no clockwise single line movement
is mentioned), and also for the triangle, but no
one line pattern is given for the diamond. (It
may be that the tendency to draw with one line
was greater in our subjects because in drawing
blind it is safer not to lift the finger lest one
should not find the place again.) They found no
consistent relationship between handedness and
directionality except that the horizontal line was
drawn preponderantly from right to left in lefthanded
chiIdren. We found this to be so with the
left hand, but not with the right hand
When hands were moving simultaneously. there
was a marked difference between the direction
taken in the vertical and horizontal components
This is seen most clearly in copying the vertical
and horizontal lines. When a vertical line was
drawn, the movement was 'downwards'-i.e., towards
the body on a horizontal surface-whether the hands
moved singly or simultaneously. Oblique lines also
were copied preponderantly with downward movements
Horizontal lines, however, were treated differently
when the hands moved simultaneously than when they
moved singly. In simultaneous movements, the hands
moved either towards each other or away from each
other. In single movements, there was a tendency for
both hands to move in the same direction (dextrad),
but not so great as with the vertical line
The same pattern is found when the vertical and
horizontal components are considered separately in
drawing the circle and angular closed figures When
two circles were drawn, one by each hand simultaneously,
the hands tended to move in opposite directions
the right hand clockwise and the left hand anticlockwise,
or vice-versa. At any one moment, the vertical
component of the movements of both hands was in the
same direction, either upwards or downwards. The
horizontal component, however, was in opposite
directions, the hands moving either towards or away
from each other.
The errors made in copying parallel pairs of
oblique lines can be explained by this tendency for
the hands to move in opposite directions horizontally
producing two converging or diverging obliques
Most of the children who made these errors corrected
them spontaneously although they could not see the
lines they had made, This would indicate that the
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