Lateral Preferences of Hand, Eye and Foot: Relation to Cerebral Dominance

Abstract

Patterns of lateral preferences of hand, eye and foot were analyzed on 7364 children, differing in race (black and white) and sex. Right hand and foot preferences were found in over 80%, and right eye preferences were found in over 50% of the subjects. No sex or race differences appeared in left-right preferences. However, significantly more females than males, and more blacks than whites, showed variable foot preference. Further analyses of cross preferences indicated that about 40% of the subjects showed consistent lateral preferences of hand, eye, and foot (about 37% right, and about 3% left), whereas the other 60% were divided among ten groups of different preference combinations. The three lateral measures were correlated to differing degrees. The data were interpreted as showing the effects of cerebral dominance on lateral preferences of hand, eye and foot. The effects seemed to be considerably stronger for hand and foot than for eye preferences. Due to a lack of supporting data, interpretation of race differences in variable foot preference must be considered tentative.

In search of correlation between hand preference and laterality of hearing impairment in patients with otosclerosis

“…Handedness has been attributed to a variety of factors including cultural demands, parental pressure, genetic factors, and aging [23][24][25][26][27]. The majority of our study patients (218/239, 91.2 %) reported being right handed, a finding in agreement with the studies on hand preferences in different populations [18][19][20][21]28]. Our findings on female prevalence among the patients with otosclerosis, mean age at presentation for stapes surgery and gender differences in handedness were consistent with those in the literature [2,3,[8][9][10][11][28][29][30][31].…”

“…Hand dominance is defined as the proneness to use one hand rather than another in performing the majority of activities, and it is widely accepted that roughly 1 of 10 humans are left handed [18][19][20][21]. Handedness has been attributed to a variety of factors including cultural demands, parental pressure, genetic factors, and aging [23][24][25][26][27].…”

“…Given that around 90 % of human adults are right handed [18][19][20][21], the evidence of RE advantage in righthanded people [14][15][16] and the right-sided preponderance among patients with BO [8], we hypothesized that hand preference might be one of the factors involved in the laterality of hearing impairment caused by otosclerosis, and the current study was conducted to test this hypothesis. …”

The Relationship Between Extremity Preferences and Medial Longitudinal Arch Collapse and Movements of the Ankle and Hallux

“…In de ter mi ning fo ot pre fe ren ces, par ti cipants we re as ked which ex tre mity they pre fer red for kic king a sta ti o nary ball and pla ying "seksek" (a tra di ti o nal Tur kish ga me re semb ling hopscotch). [19][20][21][22][23][24] Hand pre fe ren ce was ta ken as the ba sis for the de ter mi na ti on of he misp he re do mi nan ce, and tho se of the ini ti al 161 par ti ci pants who pre ferred right hand and right fo ot or right hand and both fe et we re de ter mi ned as pre fer ring the right si de. Tho se who pre fer red left hand and fo ot and left hand and both fe et we re de ter mi ned as pre ferring the left si de.…”

Sociological and Human Developmental Explanations of Crime: Conflict or Consensus?*

“…Additional factors have been found to be associated with cerebral dominance, most notably hand preference and, to a lesser extent, eye and foot preference (Nachshon, Denno, and Aurand, 1983). Findings that some lefthanders tend to rely on the "less analytical, more emotional, more impulsive response modes" associated with the right cerebral hemisphere have been used to explain their greater involvement in delinquency and violence (Gabrielli and Mednick, 1980; for a review, see Denno, 1984).…”