The effect of handedness on mental rotation of hands: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Body-specific mental rotation is thought to rely upon internal representations of motor actions. Handedness is a source of distinctly different motor experience that shapes the development of such internal representations. Yet, the influence of handedness upon hand mental rotation has never been systematically evaluated. Five databases were searched for studies evaluating hand left/right judgement tasks in adults. Two independent reviewers performed screening, data extraction, and critical appraisal. Eighty-seven datasets were included, with 72 datasets pooled; all had unclear/high risk of bias. Meta-analyses showed that right-handers were faster, but not more accurate, than left-handers at hand mental rotation. A unique effect of handedness was found on performance facilitation for images corresponding to the dominant hand. Meta-analyses showed that right-handers were quicker at identifying images of right hands than left hands-a dominance advantage not evident in left-handers. Differing hand representations (more lateralised hand dominance in right-handers) likely underpin these findings. Given potential differences between hand preference and motor performance, future research exploring their distinct contributions to mental rotation is warranted.

Facilitating recruitment of podiatrists to rural health in South Australia through a joint academic-clinical appointment.

Recruiting medical, nursing and paramedical or allied health staff to rural positions is an international problem. An example of this is the difficulty in recruitment and retention of podiatrists in rural South Australia. Increasing the proportion of undergraduate university students from rural areas is just one approach to the problem. It has also been established that students who undertake rural placements often return to a rural area to work on completion of their course. An innovative approach to addressing the recruitment and retention of rural podiatrists in South Australia involved the establishment of a joint rural academic-clinical position. The introduction of this joint position has enabled a mentored and supported increase in rural clinical exposure and education for undergraduate podiatry students. The aim of the appointment was to improve the recruitment of podiatrists to South Australian rural areas; however, an number of other benefits have become apparent.