Three Palmar Dermatoglyphic Traits and their Asymmetry in Bulgarian Right-, Mixed- and Left-Handers

Abstract

In a sample, comprising 264 right-, 246 mixed- and 360 left-handers (RH, MH and LH, correspondingly), the atd-angle, the a-b ridge count and the hypothenar radial arch were investigated, the asymmetry of both quantitative traits differentiated into directional (DA) and fluctuating (FA) one. Except for the FA of the a-b ridge count in females, which decreased significantly from RH to LH, the trends observed in the relations between the investigated dermatoglyphic values and handedness were not significant. In both quantitative traits the most important finding was the categorical left-palm excess over the right palm, since it was significantly related to sex and handedness, being much more expressed in females than in males and in the non-right-handers than in the right-handers. The hypothenar radial arch, along with its considerably higher frequency in females than in males and on the right palm than on the left, as well as its rarity combined with a very high symmetry, displayed another interesting peculiarity. The pattern was 3.9-fold more frequent in the MH and 3.4-fold more frequent in the LH as compared to RH. As witnessed by the odds ratio, if a given palm belongs to a non-right-hander, the probability that it bears a hypothenar radial arch is nearly 4-fold higher than if it were a palm of a right-hander. Arguments are adduced that left-handedness, although not a pathological character is, to say the least, a modified condition and that, similarly, the hypothenar radial arch is a subnormal dermatoglyphic finding. If such is the case, their relationship found by the present study is not surprising, although its causal background still remains unclear.