Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Last Modified: September 02, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a handedness survey, a self-report measure of hand preference. The implemented survey is based on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory by Oldfield (1971).
Oldfield, R.C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97-113.
1 minute
10* 5-point Likert choice questions that ask about handedness. The response scale is selected to mimic "++" for indicating a 'strong' hand preference and "+" for a simple hand preference . No preference (0) leads to adding a "+" to either handscore. (see Oldsfield, 1971, p.99/112)
• the last two questions from Oldfield (1971) were dropped from the default Inquisit implementation
File Name: edinburghhandednessinventory_summary.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| ehiCountMissingItems | The number of questions that have not been answered by default settings, all questions are required to be answered. However, that setting can be changed. If default setting is changed, the above variable can be used as a flag. |
| leftScore | The sum of all "+" for the left hand |
| rightScore | The sum of all "+" for the right hand |
| ehiLQ | The Laterality Quotient (= 100 * [(rightScore-leftScore)/(rightScore+leftScore)]) Range -100 (strong left preference) -50 (left preference) 0 (no preference) +50 (right preference) +100 (strong right preference) |
File Name: edinburghhandednessinventory.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| build | Inquisit version number |
| q*_response | Response given (in assigned values) for q1-q10 Scale: -2 (strong left preference) - +2 (strong right preference) |
| q*_latency | How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveyPage with this particular question (the last time this particular surveyPage was visited) |