Developmental trends in directionality of drawing in Jewish and Arab Israeli children

Jewish and Arab Israeli children (n = 484), attending pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, were required to copy a vertical and a horizontal line. Partial samples were also tested using the WPPSI. It was found that Jewish and Arab children were similar in their preference for top-bottom directionality, but in copying the horizontal line Jewish children used mostly a left-right and Arab children used mostly a right-left stroke. Correlations with the WPPSI indicated that starting from the right was correlated with higher intelligence for Arabs and with lower intelligence for Jews. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of the writing requirements of the Hebrew and Arabic languages.