Patterns Of Hand Preference Research Articles

Hand preference trajectories as predictors of language outcomes above and beyond SES: Infant patterns explain more variance than toddler patterns at 5 years of age.

Prior studies found hand preference trajectories predict preschool language outcomes. However, this approach has been limited to examining bimanual manipulation in toddlers. It is not known whether hand preference during infancy for acquiring objects (i.e., reach-to-grasp) similarly predicts childhood language ability. The current study explored this motor-language developmental cascade in 90 children. Hand preference for acquiring objects was assessed monthly from 6 to 14 months and language skill was assessed at 5 years. Latent class growth analysis identified three infant hand preference classes: left, early right, and late right. Infant hand preference classes predicted 5-year language skills. Children in the left and early right classes, who were categorized as having a consistent hand preference, had higher expressive and receptive language scores relative to children in the inconsistent late right class. Consistent classes did not differ from each other on language outcomes. Infant hand preference patterns explained more variance for expressive and receptive language relative to previously reported toddler hand preference patterns, above and beyond socioeconomic status (SES). Results suggest that hand preference, measured at different time points across development using a trajectory approach, is reliably linked to later language.

Fractionating negative and positive affectivity in handedness: Insights from the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality

ABSTRACTThe Annett Hand Preference Questionnaire (AHPQ), as modified by Briggs and Nebes [(1975). Patterns of hand preference in a student population. Cortex, 11(3), 230–238. doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(75)80005-0], was administered to a sample of 177 participants alongside the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire [RST-PQ; Corr, P. J., & Cooper, A. (2016). The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ): Development and validation. Psychological Assessment. doi:10.1037/pas000], which measures two factors of defensive negative emotion, motivation and affectivity—the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) and the Fight–Flight–Freeze System (FFFS)—and one positive-approach dimension related to reward sensitivity, persistence and reactivity—the Behavioural Approach System. We sought to clarify the nature of negative, and positive, affectivity in relation to handedness. ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses converged on the following conclusions: left-handers were higher on the BIS, not the FFFS, than right-handers; in right-handers only, strength of hand preference was positively correlated with the FFFS, not the BIS. The original assessment method proposed by Annett was also used to assess handedness, but associations with RST-PQ factors were not found. These findings help us to clarify existing issues in the literature and raise new ones for future research.

Hand preferences in preschool children: Reaching, pointing and symbolic gestures

Manual asymmetries emerge very early in development and several researchers have reported a significant right-hand bias in toddlers although this bias fluctuates depending on the nature of the activity being performed. However, little is known about the further development of asymmetries in preschoolers. In this study, patterns of hand preference were assessed in 50 children aged 3–5 years for different activities, including reaching movements, pointing gestures and symbolic gestures. Contrary to what has been reported in children before 3 years of age, we did not observe any difference in the mean handedness indices obtained in each task. Moreover, the asymmetry of reaching was found to correlate with that of pointing gestures, but not with that of symbolic gestures. In relation to the results reported in infants and adults, this study may help deciphering the mechanisms controlling the development of handedness by providing measures of manual asymmetries in an age range that has been so far rather neglected.

Motor Asymmetry in Elite Fencers

ABSTRACTThe authors previously reported that asymmetrical patterns of hand preference are updated and modified by present sensorimotor conditions. They examined whether participation in long-term training in the upper extremity sport fencing might modify arm selection and performance asymmetries. Eight fencers and eight nonfencers performed reaching movements under 3 experimental conditions: (a) nonchoice right, (b) nonchoice left, and (c) choice, either right or left arm as selected by subject. The nonchoice conditions allowed assessment of potential interlimb differences in movement performance, while the choice condition allowed assessment of the frequency and pattern of arm selection across subject groups. Our findings showed that the athlete group showed substantially greater symmetry in the performance and selection measures. These findings suggest that arm selection and performance asymmetries can be altered by intense long-term practice.

Hand preference patterns in expert basketball players: Interrelations between basketball-specific and everyday life behavior

In the present study we examined the interrelation of everyday life handedness and hand preference in basketball, as an area of expertise that requires individuals being proficient with both their non-dominant and dominant hand. A secondary aim was to elucidate the link between basketball-specific practice, hand preference in basketball and everyday life handedness. Therefore, 176 expert basketball players self-reported their hand preference for activities of daily living and for basketball-specific behavior as well as details about their basketball-specific history via questionnaire. We found that compared to the general population the one-hand bias was significantly reduced for both everyday life and basketball-specific hand preference (i.e., a higher prevalence of mixed-handed individuals), and that both concepts were significantly related. Moreover, only preference scores for lay-up and dribbling skills were significantly related to measures of basketball-specific practice. Consequently, training-induced modulations of lateral preference seem to be very specific to only a few basketball-specific skills, and do not generalize to other skills within the domain of basketball nor do they extend into everyday life handedness. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance regarding theories of handedness and their practical implications for the sport of basketball.

Patterns of hand preference in Italian adolescent high-school students

The Annett Hand Preference Questionnaire (AHPQ) is amongst the most widely used self-report measures of handedness. The psychometric properties of the AHPQ have been rarely evaluated outside the Anglo-Saxon culture where the majority of the studies on the AHPQ were done. In this study, 1,023 students (males = 49.5%) from four large high schools operating in the district of Cagliari (Italy) were invited to fill in the Italian version of the AHPQ. The AHPQ was proved to measure a unidimensional latent trait, and the questionnaire was good at assessing deviation from right-handedness with high discrimination between subjects. Some items were more informative than others, and in particular the non-equivalence between the primary and the non-primary actions was confirmed by both the confirmatory factor and the item response theory analysis. The use of the rule of thumb that classifies subjects on the basis of the primary actions was supported for the distinction between consistent right- and left-handed. However, the mixed-handed group identified on the basis of the rule of thumb was not entirely consistent with the mixed-handed class predicted by the latent class analysis. Males were about twice as likely as females to be in the mixed-handed class.

Hand preference, performance abilities, and hand selection in children

It is widely know that the pattern of human handedness is such that approximately 90% of the population is right handed with the remainder being left handed, at least in the adult population. What is less well understood is how handedness develops and at what age adult-like handedness patterns emerge. Quantified in terms of both preference and performance, a plethora of different behavioral assessments are currently in use with both children and adults. Handedness questionnaires are commonly used; however, these possess inherent limitations, considering their subjective nature. Hand performance measures have also been implemented; however, such tasks appear to measure different components of handedness. In addition to these traditional measures, handedness has been successfully assessed through observation of hand selection in reaching, which has proven to be a unique and effective manner in understanding the development of handedness in children. Research over the past several decades has demonstrated that young children display weak, inconsistent hand preference tendencies and are slower with both hands. Performance differences between the hands are larger for young children, and consistency improves with age. However, there remains some controversy surrounding the age at which hand preference and hand performance abilities can be considered fully developed. The following paper will provide a review of the literature pertaining to hand preference, performance abilities and hand selection in children in an attempt to ascertain the age at which adult-like patterns of hand preference and performance emerge.

Comparing human and nonhuman primate handedness: challenges and a modest proposal for consensus.

In the past 20-25 years, there have been a number of studies published on handedness in nonhuman primates. The goal of these studies has been to evaluate whether monkeys and apes show patterns of hand preference that resemble the right-handedness found in the human species. The extant findings on handedness in nonhuman primates have revealed inconsistent evidence for population-level handedness within and between species. In this article, I discuss some of the methodological and statistical challenges to comparative studies of handedness in human and nonhuman primates. I further offer a framework for developing some consensus on evaluating the validity of different handedness measures and the characterization of individual hand preferences.

Deictic gestures and symbolic gestures produced by adults in an experimental context: Hand shapes and hand preferences

The objective of this study was to gain new insights into the processes underlying gestural communication in adults by examining hand shapes and hand preference patterns associated with different types of gestures. Several communicative situations eliciting pointing gestures and symbolic gestures were presented to 81 participants in an experimental context. Results have highlighted some differences in hand shapes depending on the function of pointing: contrary to results reported in children, the proportion of index-finger gestures was higher in imperative situations than in declarative situations. The distance between the gesturer and the referent was also found to influence hand shapes, proximal pointing being more frequently associated with index-finger gestures than distal pointing. The comparison of hand preferences revealed a greater right-sided asymmetry for declarative pointing than for non-communicative activities, whereas there was no difference between imperative pointing and non-communicative activities, or between symbolic gestures and non-communicative activities. The present study thus sheds some light on the features and the roles of communicative gestures in adults. Results are discussed in relation to the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of communication.

Patterns of hand preference and unintentional injuries among Indian attempted hand switchers and hand non-switchers

This study examines the patterns of hand preference and unintentional injuries of attempted hand switchers and hand non-switchers. Data were collected from 3698 participants in Kharagpur, India, on measures of hand preference, hand switching, and unintentional injuries. The direction of left- or right-handedness was on the basis of hand used for the item “writing on paper” and the degree of handedness was based on the average score of remaining items in the handedness inventory. Results reveal that, among attempted hand-switchers, learned right-handers were not right-sided in hand continuum as the natural right-handers, but left-handers were left-sided as natural left-handers. With increasing age the learned right-handers become less right-sided and natural right-handers become more right-sided. Females (males) are found to be more right-handed than males (females) among learned right-handers (natural right-handers). On the direction of handedness, the learned right-handers have more than twice the risk of unintentional injuries than the natural right- and left-handers. On degree of handedness, the use of inconsistent left and both hands among natural left-handers, the use of inconsistent right and both hands among natural right-handers, and the use of weak right hand among learned right-handers increase their vulnerability to unintentional injuries. Any deviation from the genetic make-up in hand use elevates the risk of unintentional injuries, suggesting that one should not change the biological hand.

Patterns of hand preference for pairs of actions and the classification of handedness

Pairs of actions such as write x throw and throw x racquet were examined for items of the Annett hand preference questionnaire (AHPQ). Right (R) and left (L) responses were described for frequencies of RR, RL, LR, and LL pairings (write x throw etc.) in a large representative combined sample with the aim of discovering the distribution over the population as a whole. The frequencies of RL pairings varied significantly over the different item pairs but the frequencies of LR pairings were fairly constant. An important difference was found between primary actions (originally write, throw, racquet, match, toothbrush, hammer with the later addition of scissors for right-handers) and non-primary actions (needle and thread, broom, spade, dealing playing cards, and unscrewing the lid of a jar). For primary actions, there were similar numbers of right and left writers using the 'other' hand. For non-primary actions more right-handers used the left hand than for primary actions but more left-handers did not use the right hand. That is, different frequencies of response to primary versus non-primary actions were found for right-handers but not for left-handers. The pattern of findings was repeated for a corresponding analysis of left-handed throwing x AHPQ actions. The findings have implications for the classification of hand preferences and for analyses of the nature of hand skill.

Patterns and laterality of hand use in free-ranging aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) and a comparison with captive studies

We observed hand use in free-ranging aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) on an island in the Mananara River, eastern Madagascar. The results were compared with those of two conflicting studies on hand laterality in captive aye-ayes. We argue that patterns of hand preference in wild aye-ayes are comparable to those of captive animals and that discrepancies between studies are—at least partly—caused by different ways of collecting and processing data. Aye-ayes fit Level 2 of the categories of hand laterality described by McGrew and Marchant (Yearb Phys Anthropol 40:201–232, 1997), with some individuals showing significant hand preference, but with the proportion of right- to left-preferent animals being very close to 1:1. We observed hand preference to be consistent for two of the most frequent behaviors, tapping and probing with fingers. Reaching and holding objects in hands is rare in aye-ayes, and the patterns of hand use in aye-ayes are therefore not directly comparable with those of other prosimians in which laterality has been studied. We detected no effect of sex on hand preference and were unable to determine whether there is an effect of age. The posture adopted by the animals did not influence hand preference.

Hand preference and skilled hand performance among individuals with successful rightward conversions of the writing hand

Searleman and Porac (2001) studied lateral preference patterns among successfully switched left-hand writers, left-hand writers with no switch pressure history, and left-hand writers who did not switch when pressured. They concluded that left-handers who successfully shift to right-hand writing are following an inherent right-sided lateralisation pattern that they already possess. Searleman and Porac suggested that the neural mechanisms that control lateralisation in the successfully switched individuals are systematically different from those of other groups of left-handers. I examined patterns of skilled and less-skilled hand preference and skilled hand performance in a sample of 394 adults (ages 18–94 years). The sample contained successfully switched left-hand writers, left-handers pressured to shift who remained left-hand writers, left-handers who did not experience shift pressures, and right-handers. Both skilled hand preference and skilled hand performance were shifted towards the right side in successfully switched left-hand writers. This group also displayed mixed patterns of hand preference and skilled hand performance in that they were not as right-sided as “natural” right-handers nor were they as left-sided as the two left-hand writing groups, which did not differ from each other. The experience of being pressured to switch to right-hand writing was not sufficient to shift lateralisation patterns; the pressures must be experienced in the context of an underlying neural control mechanism that is amenable to change as a result of these external influences.

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preference and performance abilities, a cross-sectional sample of 548 children (ages 3–18) and adults (over 19) completed the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire, the WatHand Cabinet Test (an observational test of hand preference), and the Annett pegboard. Findings revealed that while the direction of hand preference does not change significantly with age, the degree of hand preference does, such that younger children exhibit weaker hand preference than older children and adults. This pattern of hand preference was much more evident for lefthanded individuals, where consistent hand preference was not seen until 8 years of age. Similarly, performance differences between the hands did not emerge for left-handers until later childhood, while in comparison large performance differences were seen for right-handers at all ages. The implications for the development of handedness will be discussed.

Plasticity in the development of handedness: Evidence from normal development and early asymmetric brain injury

Previous research revealed that shifting patterns of hand preference in the first year of life are linked to infants' sensory-motor experiences as they learn to sit, creep, and walk. In this report, we examine whether new and different forms of locomotion and sensory-motor experiences similarly contribute to alter patterns of hand preference in early development. We examined the cases of three infants with unique developmental histories. Two infants adopted distinctive forms of locomotion in lieu of typical hands-and-knees crawling. One infant scooted using both hands and legs in a coupled fashion, while the other infant performed an asymmetrical, left-biased belly-crawl using only one arm to drag his body. The third infant suffered damage to his left-brain hemisphere shortly after birth and received intense physical therapy to his right arm as a result of it. We followed all three infants on a weekly basis and tracked changes in their reaching behavior, mode of locomotion, and postural achievements. The two infants with unique locomotor patterns displayed changes in hand preference that reciprocated the arm patterns that they used during locomotion. The infant who coupled his body for scooting began to reach bimanually, while the infant who adopted the left-biased belly-crawl developed a strong unimanual, right-hand, preference. The infant with left-hemisphere damage initially displayed a right-hand preference, then a temporary decline in preferred hand use as he began to cruise and walk, and ultimately resumed a right-hand preference in the 2nd year of life. This data is consistent with previous work showing that the development of hand preference in the 1st year of life is highly malleable and sensitive to a variety of new sensory-motor experiences.

Hand preference for writing and associations with selected demographic and behavioral variables in 255,100 subjects: The BBC internet study

In an Internet study unrelated to handedness, 134,317 female and 120,783 male participants answered a graded question as to which hand they preferred for writing. This allowed determination of hand preference patterns across 7 ethnic groups. Sex differences in left-handedness were found in 4 ethnic groups, favoring males, while no significant sex differences were found in three of the groups. Prevalence of left-handedness in the largest of the ethnic groups (self-labelled as “White”) was comparable to contemporary hand preference data for this group [Gilbert, A. N., & Wysocki, C. J. (1992). Hand preference and age in the United states. Neuropsychologia, 30, 601–608] but the prevalence of left-handedness in individuals >70 years of age was considerably higher in the present study. Individuals who indicated “either” hand for writing preference had significantly lower spatial performance (mental rotation task) and significantly higher prevalence of hyperactivity, dyslexia, asthma than individuals who had clear left or right hand preferences, in support of Crow et al. [Crow, T., Crow, L., Done, D., & Leask, S. (1998). Relative hand skill predicts academic ability: global deficits at the point of hemispheric indecision. Neuropsychologia, 36, 1275–1282]. Similarly, an association of writing hand preference and non-heterosexual orientation was clearest for individuals with “either” writing hand responses. We conclude that contradictions in the literature as to whether or not these variables are linked to handedness stem largely from different definitions of hand preference. Due to a lack of statistical power in most studies in the literature, the “either” hand writing preference group that yielded the most salient results in this study is not normally available for analysis.

Interactions between lateralized choices of hand and target

Few studies have examined interactions between hand preference and target laterality preference when subjects are permitted unrestricted choices of both hand and target at the same time. We therefore trained three monkeys to perform a task in which different types of choices were presented in different trials. In some trials the monkey chose between targets presented simultaneously to the right and left, while being required to use a specific hand. In these trials, the monkeys preferentially chose the target ipsilateral to the required hand. In other trials, the monkey chose between its right or left hand to retrieve a single target presented either on the right or on the left. In these trials, each monkey showed a consistent pattern of hand preference whether the target was presented on the right or left. In still other trials, the monkey chose both which hand to use and which target to retrieve. In these trials, the choices made by each monkey reflected its individual pattern of hand preference, plus a tendency to choose the target ipsilateral to the preferred hand, with little additional evidence of preference for target laterality. These patterns of laterality preference were similar regardless of whether a cue instructing which hand(s) the monkey could use preceded or followed a cue indicating on which side(s) the target(s) would appear. If the monkeys were permitted to use a strategy in which retrieving the target on a given side could increase the amount of food retrieved per trial, however, the choices made were biased strongly by that strategy. We conclude that when lateralized targets are equivalent, lateralized choices are biased primarily by hand preference and secondarily by a preference to retrieve a target ipsilateral to the preferred hand.

Hand preference, extent of laterality, and functional hand use in Rett syndrome.

Residual hand use in functional tasks, extent of laterality, and right or left preference were studied in 145 2- to 24-year-old, postregression Australian subjects with Rett syndrome via parent questionnaire. Hand use was markedly restricted, more for complex than simple and for external (touching food and objects) than internal tasks (scratching, rubbing eyes), suggesting a deficit in cerebral control of external, goal-oriented hand use, which is perhaps genetically determined because there is significantly greater restriction of external tasks in subjects with demonstrated MECP2 mutations. Overall, 33.6% of patients were reported with a left-hand preference, 40.7% with a right-hand preference, and 25.7% with an equal hand preference. Extent of laterality was greater for external than internal and for complex than simple external tasks. Older subjects showed less functional hand use and possibly more overall laterality. However, their hand preference was similar to younger subjects. The anomalous pattern of hand preference in Rett syndrome may be linked to the primary apraxic deficit in this disorder rather than to late manifestation of laterality.

Hand preference and motor functioning in children with autism.

This study examined three theories that have been proposed to explain the high rates of ambiguous hand preference in young children with autism. Twenty children with autism were matched with 20 children with developmental delays and 20 normally developing children. The groups were compared on measures of hand preference and motor skills. Results indicated that the lack of development of a hand preference in children with autism was not a direct function of their cognitive delay, as the children with developmental delays showed a dissimilar pattern of hand preference. The lack of a definite hand preference in the children with autism was also not due to a lack of motor skill development, as the children with developmental delays displayed similar levels of gross and fine motor skills without the accompanying lack of a definite hand preference. The finding that children with autism with a definite hand preference displayed better performance on motor, language, and cognitive tasks than children with autism who did not display a definite hand preference, however, provided support for the bilateral brain dysfunction hypothesis.

Hand Preference Side and Its Relation to Hand Preference Switch History Among Old and Oldest-Old Adults

The last 10 years of research on adult hand preference patterns have generated a controversy over the meaning of the difference in the incidence rates of left- and right-hand preference in older adult samples (> 60 years old) when compared to samples of younger individuals (< 30 years old). Age differences in hand preference prevalence often are studied with large, cross-sectional age samples; however, with 1 notable exception (Gilbert & Wysocki, 1992), these large samples frequently are dominated numerically by individuals below the age of 45 years. This study reports on hand preference data from a sample of 1,277 individuals between the ages of 65 and 100 years. Overall, the participants in this sample displayed an incidence of 93.1% right preference versus 6.9% left preference. However, the occurrence of age differences in right-hand use when the oldest-old adults (>73 years old) were compared to the others in this sample were only apparent for writing hand preference. Variation in hand preference prevalence was related to whether an individual reported a history of attempts to switch preference toward the right side. These findings support the view that age-related variations in hand preference prevalence are best explained by a number of factors, the interaction of which is still not well understood (Hugdahl, Satz, Mitrushina, & Miller, 1993; Hugdahl, Zaucha, Satz, Mitrushina, & Miller, 1996).