Purpose: The purpose of the study was the effect of unilateral practice on leg lateral asymmetry in soccer kicking of the male students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Method:The subjects were 40 students (18 to 24) who participated in the course of General Physical Education and did not have any professional and regular experiences in soccer, and their preferred leg was right. They were randomly and equally assigned to experimental and control groups. Experimental group practiced with their non-preferred left leg according to the program for eight weeks and three times a week in a 1.5 hour session. Control group had no activities other than those usually performed in their daily living duties. The subjects performed the task of instep kicking in pre-test, post-tests and retention test 15 days following the end of practice. The data were analyzed through analysis of variance tests and T test in experimental and control groups. Results:Results showed that the unilateral practice has been caused remarkable increase in the left leg performance and inconsiderably increase in the right leg performance. Also, significant reduction in the index of lateral asymmetry from the pre-test to post-test (p=0.002) and retention test (p=0.003) showed reduction of right leg preference in experimental group after the unilateral practice. Discussion:Based on the results, it is suggested that leg preference is task-specific and it is as a result of special limitations in acquisition of a task and basically comes from previous experiences of differential use of the limbs
Raw, R. K., Wilkie, R. M., Culmer, P. R. (2012). "Reduced motor asymmetry in older adults when manually tracing paths". Experimental Brain Research, 217, PP:35-41.
Teixeira, L. A., Silva, M. V. M., Carvalho, M. A. (2003). "Reduction of lateral asymmetries in dribbling: The role of bilateral practice". Laterality, 8(1), PP:53-65.
Peters, M. (1976). "Prolonged practice of a simple motor task by preferred and nonpreferred hands". Perceptual and Motor Skills, 43, PP: 447-450.
Peters, M., & Ivanoff, J. (1999). "Performance asymmetries in computer mouse control of right-handers, and left-handers with left- and right- handed mouse experience". Journal of Motor Behavior, 31, PP:86–94.
Teixeira, L. A. (1993). "Bilateral transfer of learning: the effect tor side in focus". Journal of Human Movement Studies, 25, PP:243-253.
Teixeira, L. A. (1999). "On what is transferred to one hand when grasping a moving ball is learnt with the other hand". Ciencia e Cultura, 51, PP:42-45.
Teixeira, L. A. (2000). "Timing and force components in bilateral transfer of learning". Brain and Cognition, 44, PP: 455-469.
Haaland, E., Hoff, J. (2003). "None-dominant leg training improves the bilateral motor performance of soccer players". Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 13, PP: 179-184.
Teixeira, L. A., & Okazaki, V. H. A. (2007). "Shift of manual preference by lateralized practice generalizes to related motor tasks". Experimental Brain Research, 183, PP: 417–423.
Teixeira, L. A., & Teixeira, M. C. T. (2007). "Shift of manual preference in right-handers following unimanual practice". Brain and Cognition, 65,PP: 238–243.
Singh, M., Manjary, M., Dellatolas, G. (2001). "Lateral preference among Indian school children". Cortex, 37, PP: 231–241.
Teixeira, L. A. (2008). "Categories of manual asymmetry and their variation with advancing age". Cortex, 44, PP: 707–716.
Zverev, Y. P. (2006). "Cultural and environmental pressure against left-hand preference in urban and semi-urban Malawi". Brain and Cognition, 60, PP: 295–303.
Meng, L. F. (2007). "The rate of handedness conversion and related factors in left-handed children". Laterality, 12, PP:131–138.
Healey, J. M., Liederman, J., Geschwind, N. (1986). "Handedness is not a unidimensional trait". Cortex, 22, PP:33–53.
Mikheev, M., Mohrb C., Afanasiev, S., Landis, T., Thut, G. (2002). "Motor control and cerebral hemispheric specialization in highly qualified judo wrestlers". Neuropsychologia, 40, PP:1209–1219.
Stöckel, T., Vater, C. (2014). Hand preference patterns in expert basketball players: Interrelations between basketball-specific and everyday life behavior. Human Movement Science, 38, PP: 143–151.
Stöckel, T., Weigelt, M. (2012). "Plasticity of human handedness: Decreased one-hand bias and inter-manual performance asymmetry in expert basketball players". Journal of Sports Sciences, 30(10), PP: 1037-1045.
Maeda, R. S., Souza, O. M., Teixeira, L. A. (2014). From specific training to global shift of manual preference in kung fu experts. Perceptual & Motor Skills: Learning & Memory, 118(1), PP: 73-85.
Gabbard, C., Hart, S. (1996). A question of foot dominance. The Journal of General Psychology. 123 (4), PP: 289-2960.
Coren, S. (1993). The lateral preference inventory for measurement of handedness, footedness, eyedness, and earedness: Norms for young adults. Bulletin of The Psychonomic Society. 31 (1), PP: 1-30.
Dargent-pare, C., De Agostini, M., mesbah.M, and Dellatolas, G. (1992). Foot and eye preferences in adults: Relationship with handedness, sex, and age. Cortex, 28, PP: 343-351.
Peters, M. (1988). Footedness: Asymmetries in foot preference and skill and neuropsychological assessment of foot movement. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 179-1920.
Chapman, J. P., Chapman, L. J. and Allen, J. J. (1987). The measurement of foot preference. Neuropsychologia. 25, PP: 579-584.
)