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PubMed1987

The measurement of handedness.

A handedness scale consisting of 13 questionnaire items selected from those of D. Raczkowski, J. W. Kalat, and R. Nebes (1974, Neuropsychologia, 12, 43-47) was found to have high internal consistency for both males and females (coefficient alpha = .96 for both sexes), high test-retest reliability (r = .97 for males and .96 for females), and a correlation of .83 with a behavioral measure of handedness. Males exhibited more nonfamilial, but not familial, left-handedness than did females. Self-description as strongly right-handed or as strongly left-handed predicted questionnaire handedness categorization better than did hand used for writing.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Left-handedness as an injury risk factor in adolescents.

PURPOSE: Left-handedness has been suggested as a risk factor for unintentional trauma. The objective of this study was to determine if left-handedness was associated with an increased frequency and severity of injury among adolescent school athletes. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to 634 junior and senior high school athletes during preparticipation examinations. The questionnaire consisted of a four-item handedness determination and history of past injury. RESULTS: Left-handers more frequently reported having seen a physician in the previous year for treatment of an injury than did right-handers. A higher proportion of the left-handers than right-handers reported having been previously hospitalized for injury treatment. A higher proportion of left-handers than right-handers reported having previously had surgery for treatment of an injury. CONCLUSIONS: Left-handedness appears to be a risk factor for injury among adolescent school athletes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Preference and performance measures of handedness.

Handedness cannot be predicted using a single performance measure, and preference measures of handedness are unreliable because of their subjectivity. This report was designed to examine the relationship between hand performance and hand preference using six different measures: the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire (a measure of hand preference), the Wathand Box (a performance-based indicator of hand preference), two pegboard tasks, finger tapping, and grip strength and to determine the most accurate performance-based predictor of hand preference as measured by the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that together, the Wathand Box score and the lateralized place phase of the grooved pegboard task were the most accurate predictors of hand preference.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Body handedness is directed by genetically determined cytoskeletal dynamics in the early embryo.

Although substantial progress has been made recently in understanding the establishment of left-right asymmetry in several organisms, little is known about the initial step for any embryo. In gastropods, left-right body handedness is determined by an unknown maternally inherited single gene or genes at closely linked loci and is associated with the sense of spiral cleavage in early embryos. Contrary to what has been believed, we show that temporal and spatial cytoskeletal dynamics for the left- and right-handed snails within a species are not mirror images of each other. Thus, during the third cleavage of Lymnaea stagnalis, helical spindle inclination (SI) and spiral blastomere deformation (SD) are observed only in the dominant dextral embryos at metaphase-anaphase, whereas in the recessive sinistral embryos, helicity emerges during the furrow ingression. Actin depolymerization agents altered both cleavages to neutral. Further, we found a strong genetic linkage between the handedness-specific cytoskeletal organization and the organismal handedness, using backcrossed F4 congenic animals that inherit only 1/16 of dextral strain-derived genome either with or without the dextrality-determining gene(s). Physa acuta, a sinistral-only gastropod, exhibits substantial SD and SI levotropically. Thus, cytoskeletal dynamics have a crucial role in determination of body handedness with further molecular, cellular, and evolutionary implications.

Actins↗

PubMed2005

Maintenance of handedness polymorphism in humans: a frequency-dependent selection model.

Frequency-dependent selection is an important process in the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness. In humans, it has been proposed that the polymorphism of handedness is maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection, through a strategic advantage of left-handers in fighting interactions. Using simple mathematical models, we explore: (1) whether it is possible to predict the range of left-handedness frequencies observed in human populations by the frequency and the violence of fighting interactions; (2) the consequences of the sex differences in the probability of transmission of hand preference to offspring. We show that a wide range of values of the frequency of left-handers can be obtained with realistic changes of the parameters values. Our models reinforce the idea that negative frequency-dependence may have played a role in maintaining left-handedness in human populations, and provide further support for the importance of fighting interactions in the evolution of hand preference. Moreover, they suggest an explanation for the occurrence of left-handedness among women in this context, namely an indirect selective advantage through their male offspring.

Aggression↗

PubMed2006

Asymmetries of cortical shape: Effects of handedness, sex and schizophrenia.

Some evidence suggests that sex, handedness and disease processes associated with schizophrenia affect the magnitude and/or direction of structural brain asymmetries. There are mixed findings, however, on how these factors influence cerebral torque, when torque is assessed with linear or volumetric measurements. We obtained MRI data from 67 healthy (30 males, 10 non-dextrals) and 84 schizophrenia subjects (60 males; 16 non-dextrals) and applied cortical pattern matching to spatially relate and compare differences in the surface morphology of the two cerebral hemispheres at high spatial resolution. Asymmetry indices, computed at thousands of matched hemispheric locations, were used to examine effects of sex, handedness and schizophrenia on hemispheric shape asymmetries while controlling for age and the other factors. Highly significant and discriminative right-frontal and left parietal-occipital surface expansions and protrusions (petalias) were mapped within groups. Although hemispheric shape asymmetries appeared less pronounced within female non-dextrals, asymmetry indices were not shown to differ significantly across sex, hand preference or diagnosis, or to reveal interactions of handedness with sex or diagnosis. Our 3D maps of spatially detailed anterior and posterior hemispheric shape asymmetries reflect subtle geometric distortions in hemispheric surface morphology that cannot be characterized with 2D or volumetric methods. Inter-individual variations in hemispheric torque appear minimally influenced by sex, dextrality or disease status. Biological factors driving language dominance or other lateralized brain functions dissociable from handedness, may more closely relate to hemispheric shape asymmetries, while the lateralization of other discrete brain regions may be more influenced by sexually dimorphic factors or by schizophrenia pathophysiology.

Cerebral Cortex↗

PubMed2001

The relationship between handedness and fine motor performance.

The aim of this study was to re-investigate the relationship between handedness and asymmetry in hand performance, and the sex difference in motor asymmetry. Three-hundred and ten medical students volunteered as subjects. Handedness was assessed by a 13-item questionnaire adapted from Chapman and Chapman. Fine motor performance was measured using a finger tapping task. In this task, subjects were required to tap as rapidly as possible with their index finger on a mouse button for a period of 10 s. There was a significant correlation between handedness scores and the scores of the finger tapping task. In the total sample, the correlation between hand speed and the handedness score indicated that the distribution of hand preference is associated with left hand speed, but not right hand speed. Results confirmed that right-handed females tend to have more asymmetric motor function than right-handed males.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Handedness and season of birth: a gender-invariant relation.

In an earlier study, Dellatolas, Curt and Lellouch (1991) concluded that handedness is not related to season of birth. However, post-hoc exploration of their and other sets of data has shown that there is an apparent tendency for left-handedness to be more prevalent in the period March-July than in the period August-February. The present work tested this seasonal hypothesis prospectively among university students. It was found that the proportion of all left-handed participants who were born in the period March-July was indeed significantly greater than the proportion of all right-handed participants who were born in the same period. Furthermore, the pattern of seasonal influence upon handedness did not vary significantly between females and males. The relation between handedness and season of birth may be linked to seasonal variation in other factors such as the incidence of infectious agents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Is there really a syndrome involving the co-occurrence of neurodevelopmental disorder talent, non-right handedness and immune disorder among children?

This paper is the first large-scale attempt to test Geschwind and Galaburda's (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) hypothesis that there should be a four-way association among neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs), special talents, non-right handedness, and immune disorders. In a sample of 11,578 children, several two-way associations were found, but not those most strongly predicted by the theory. For example, non-right handedness was not associated with NDs considered to be secondary to left hemisphere dysfunction (e.g., articulation disorder, reading disability, verbal aptitude deficits). Instead, non-right handedness was associated with NDs that involve generalized brain damage (e.g. cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and seizures). One immune disorder (asthma) was associated with one ND (attention deficit disorder); immune disorder was not associated with non-right handedness. Less than 1% of this sample manifested the co-occurrence of any three or four of these markers. In sum, there was little evidence in support of the syndrome suggested by Geschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c).

Aptitude↗

PubMed1992

Handedness in childhood autism shows a dissociation of skill and preference.

Hand preference and hand skill were assessed in 20 children with autism, 20 normal controls and 12 children with mental retardation. 90% of the normal controls and 92% of the children with mental retardation showed concordance for hand preference and hand skill (i.e. the preferred hand was also the more skillful), whereas only 50% of the children with autism showed concordance of preference and skill, the remaining 50% preferring to use the hand which was less skillful. Children with autism also showed a lesser degree of handedness and a lesser degree of consistency than the other groups, although this was unrelated to the discordance of skill and asymmetry. A developmental model of handedness is proposed in which the development of handedness as preference is ontogenetically prior to the development of handedness as skill asymmetry, such that in normal children the development of skill asymmetry occurs as a secondary consequence of the establishment of preference. The causal sequence is disrupted in autism, so that although preference is established, it does not subsequently result in concordant skill asymmetry.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed1993

Handedness, sex, and familial sinistrality effects on spatial tasks.

Left-handed (N = 109) and right-handed (N = 115) undergraduates (99 males, 125 females) received the SIBT (a "mental rotation" test), the 3DD (3-dimensional drawing test), and a family sinistrality (FS) questionnaire. Left-handers were further separated into consistent left-handed (CLH) and inconsistent left-handed (ILH) subgroups, based on consistency of hand preference. On the spatial tests, males outperformed females, with no overall handedness effects. Also, for males, CLH's (but not ILH's) performed significantly worse than right-handers on the SIBT, but this difference was not found on the 3DD. For females, no handedness subgroup differences were found on either spatial tasks. Familial sinistrality was twice as common in left-handers as in right-handers. Among males, the incidence of FS+ in the CLH subgroup also was over twice that for ILH's. Thus, where left-handers report a greater incidence of FS+, and are inferior to right-handers in mental rotation skill, it is CLH's (particularly males) who contribute mostly to these effects. The results suggest that previous discrepant findings reported in studies of the cognitive correlates of left-handedness may be due in part to the mixing of two distinct left-handed subgroups. An understanding of the differences between them may be crucial for better understanding the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying handedness.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Handedness in blood donors: no association with blood group or twinning.

There has been considerable interest in the contribution of inheritance to determination of handedness and in observed associations between hand laterality and twinning, gender and age. Unpublished data from a study of children born preterm suggested an association between AB0 blood group and handedness. A questionnaire filled in by 3815 blood donors, gave information on blood group, age, gender, whether they were a twin, hand used for writing and perceived handedness. There was no association between AB0 blood group or rhesus group and handedness. Significantly more females than males considered themselves right handed (82.5% versus 79.9%) and more subjects aged 50+ wrote with the right hand (90.6% versus 87.6% if younger). Twins did not differ from other subjects in this study and we hypothesise that the generally inconsistent findings relating to twins may be explained by population differences in the proportion of twins born preterm.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Handedness and allergic disorders in a New Zealand cohort.

Studies of the proposed association between handedness and allergic disorders have shown results which appear contradictory. In view of differences in the procedures of these studies, further tests of the strength of this association are warranted. Results from this study of a large birth cohort of children showed no support for an association between handedness measured at age 7 years and reports of eczema, urticaria, rhinitis, or asthma in late childhood or early adolescence. There was no significant association found between handedness and reported frequency and duration of symptoms of wheezing, or parental help-seeking for these symptoms. Apparent differences in the results of these studies could possibly be reconciled by the view that preference for use of the left hand may be associated with increased help-seeking behaviour in later life for a range of problems or difficulties. Further tests of the association between handedness and disorder in clinical samples require more rigorous control procedures.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

Left-handedness and cognitive deficit.

Intellectual and performance measures were taken on 7688 school children tested on three behavioral measures of handedness and one measure of eyedness. Test results were compared against all combinations of handedness and eyedness and against a measure of socio-economic level. No relationships of any kind were found. Comparisons of the present results are made against 33 studies concerned with possible deficits associated with left-handedness. The results of the present study combined with a review of the majority of studies on deficit and handedness strongly suggest that the hypothesis of no difference in intellectual and cognitive performance between right- and left-handed subjects can be accepted as true.

Attention↗

PubMed1980

Left handedness, birth order and birth stress.

The handedness of 942 subjects (305 tertiary students, 591 of their siblings and 46 of their children) was ascertained by a 14-item questionnaire. The mothers of the subjects supplied information about maternal age at birth, birth weight and the presence or absence of twelve conditions likely to be associated with birth stress for each subject. No increase in left handedness was found among fourth or later born children. A significant decrease occurred in first-borns of both sexes, although these had more stressful births than the other subjects. No relationship between maternal age, birth weight or reported birth stress and left handedness was found. Thus the hypothesis that birth stress is a major cause of left handedness in normal subjects was not supported. Acknowledgements. We are particularly grateful to the students from the Institute for Early Childhood Development and their families, who provided the data for this study. We also wish to thank Dr John L. Bradshaw for his very constructive comments during the preparation of this paper.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

The handedness distributions of gifted and non-gifted children.

The handedness distribution of a group of 578 gifted elementary school children (I.Q. = 132) was compared to handedness distribution of 391 non-gifted children (I.Q. less than 132), with the result that the gifted group was significantly less right-handed than their non-gifted peers. These data were discussed relative to Bakan's hypothesis that left-handedness results from stressful prenatal and birth conditions. In addition attention was paid to the possibility of a non-linear relationship between intelligence and degree of right-handedness.

Child↗

PubMed1982

Handedness and spatial ability.

Data from a large-scale study of cognitive abilities were used to test the hypothesis that there are handedness-related differences in spatial visualization. The spatial factor score of the cognitive test battery provided a measure of spatial visualization. Analyses revealed a sex X handedness X ethnicity interaction on the spatial factor, and no significant handedness-related differences on verbal factor. In all ethnic groups strongly left-handed males had higher spatial scores than strongly right-handed males, whereas strongly left-handed females had lower spatial scores than strongly right-handed females. Among subjects of Japanese or Chinese ancestry, strongly left-handed subjects differed from ambidextrous subjects as well as from right-handed subjects, and these differences, too, were of opposite sign for males and females. It is suggested that the use of spatial ability measures which are relatively insensitive to differences in right hemisphere ability, as well as the failure to attend to degree of handedness, ethnicity, and particularly gender, may be responsible for the negative findings in this area of research.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

Handedness and familial sinistrality in a Japanese student population.

A handedness questionnaire consisting of thirteen items was administered to 4282 Japanese senior high school students. Information on the occurrence of left-handedness in their family as well as on forced conversion of hand usage in their childhood was obtained. Results indicated that incidence of non-right-handedness was 7.2%, with that of males being greater than that of females. The proportion of converted right-handers was greater in females than in males. When the frequency of converted right-handers was added to that of present non-right-handers, the average for non-right-handedness increased to 11%. Non-right-handers, particularly females, had familial sinistrality more frequently than right-handers. Item analysis revealed that the incidence of individuals who always use left hand for writing and eating was only 0.7% and 1.7%, respectively. This suggests that social pressure for right-hand writing and eating remains high in Japan.

Adolescent↗