An examination of the influence of prenatal sex hormones on handedness: Literature review and amniotic fluid data

Richards, Gareth; Beking, Tess; Kreukels, Baudewijntje P.C.; Geuze, Reint; Beaton, Alan A.; Groothuis, Ton G. G.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.104929

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 133 publications

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“… 67 , 68 A recent study found high prenatal testosterone concentrations in amniotic fluids to predict weak hand skill asymmetry scores and high prenatal estradiol to predict predicted weak hand preference in 15-year-old girls, thus overall also suggesting some influence of sex hormones on handedness. 69 An interplay between sex hormones and handedness in females is also suggested by reports that left-handedness is associated with earlier menopause 70 , 71 – yet, here also non-supportive reports exist 72 , 73 – and different sex hormone levels in left- and right-handed menopausal women. 74 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Non-Right Handedness is Associated with More Time Awake After Sleep Onset and Higher Daytime Sleepiness Than Right Handedness: Objective (Actigraphic) and Subjective Data from a Large Community Sample

Taubert¹,

Schroeter²,

Sander³

et al. 2022

NSS

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Purpose Handedness has been linked to various physiological and pathological phenomena including memory function and psychiatric disorders. Also for sleep, several studies have reported associations. However, large-scale studies including a broad age span of participants and studies analyzing women and men separately are lacking. Methods Therefore, objective sleep data were determined using at-home actigraphy from 1764 healthy participants (18 to 80 years, 908 women), averaging five consecutive nights. In addition, subjective sleep-related data were captured by self-report diaries, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and the Morningness-Eveningness-Questionnaire (MEQ). Handedness was determined with the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) providing information on the direction (left vs right) and the degree of handedness (strong vs weak). To address the potential endocrine effects, premenopausal women (≤45 years) and postmenopausal women (≥55 years) were analyzed separately. This was also done for men. Results The degree and direction of handedness were correlated with “wake after sleep onset” (WASO) in the total sample and all women (the more right-handed/lateralized the shorter WASO). In postmenopausal women, additionally, time in bed (TIB) and total sleep time (TST) were correlated. There were no other significant associations between an objective sleep variable and handedness. In both premenopausal women and >55-year-old men subjective quality of sleep (PSQI) was correlated with direction and degree of handedness (the more right-handed/lateralized the better). In the total sample and postmenopausal women, the degree and direction of handedness were negatively correlated with daytime sleepiness. The chronotype was not associated with handedness in any group. Conclusion While associations were not consistent in all groups, overall, right-handedness tended to be associated with better sleep and less daytime sleepiness. Handedness and sleep seemed to be differentially associated in women and men, being in line with endocrine interactions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Non-Right Handedness is Associated with More Time Awake After Sleep Onset and Higher Daytime Sleepiness Than Right Handedness: Objective (Actigraphic) and Subjective Data from a Large Community Sample

Taubert¹,

Schroeter²,

Sander³

et al. 2022

NSS

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“…The variation among resamples indicates what would be expected from sampling variation under such circumstances (see Loehlin et al, p. 300–301 97 ). We used bootstrapping because it does not assume a normal distribution of the error term 98 , and may be advantageous when examining variables that exhibit marked deviations from the normal distribution as well as presence of datapoints that would be considered outliers in the context of a normal distribution 41 , 97 , 99 , 100 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and maternal testosterone-to-estradiol ratio measured in early pregnancy

Richards

Aydin

Tsompanidis

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The ratio of index to ring finger (2D:4D) has been hypothesised to indicate prenatal androgen exposure, yet evidence for its validity is lacking. We report the first pre-registered study to investigate mothers’ early pregnancy sex hormone concentrations in relation to their children’s digit ratios measured at 18–22-month follow-up. Although the testosterone (T) to estradiol (E) ratio correlated negatively with right hand digit ratio (R2D:4D) and directional asymmetry (right-minus-left) in digit ratio (D[R−L]), neither effect remained statistically significant once demographic and obstetric covariates were controlled for. Nevertheless, the multivariate level of analysis did reveal that T correlated positively with left hand digit ratio (L2D:4D) and negatively with D[R−L]. However, the first of these effects is in the opposite direction to that predicted by theory. Taken together, the results of our study suggest research with larger samples is required to determine whether digit ratios are valid proxies for maternal sex hormone exposure.

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“…The development of laterality may be influenced by both categories of hormones (Hausinger & Pletzer, 2021;Ocklenburg et al, 2016;Richards, Beking et al, 2021). This is deduced from two main observations: first, sex differences are generally found on a functional and behavioral level (for a review see , which suggests an implication of sex hormones.…”

Section: Steroid Hormonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of laterality: Asymmetrical human behaviors and perceptual biases

Hamaoui¹

2022

Preprint

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Many asymmetries characterize human functioning at the behavioral level, such as handedness (right-handedness, left-handedness, mixed-handedness) and the cerebral level. Atypical laterality is frequently mentioned in scientific literature as part of the clinical picture of several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Thus, understanding the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying laterality could shed light on the etiology of cognitive and motor difficulties. The goal of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, the theoretical objective was to investigate the involvement of the prenatal environment in the development of handedness. The influence of the vestibular system, fetal presentation, and other perinatal factors related to pregnancy complications and birth stressors were tested. Our results show no influence of the fetal presentation on the subsequent development of handedness. Perinatal adversities such as prematurity, low birthweight, and poor neonatal health reflected by very low Apgar scores however, appear to be risk factors which increase the prevalence of atypical handedness and motor impairments. Secondly, the applied objective was to simultaneously detect the different perceptual biases implicated in graphomotor productions. A 3D-2D transcription graphic task was proposed for identifying global patterns of drawing asymmetries, underpinned by cerebral lateralization, biomechanical constraints, and sociocultural influences. Our results suggest that cerebral lateralization, modulated by handedness and sex, influence graphomotor asymmetries in both children and adults. However, this influence is weaker in adults, which could be due to sociocultural influences.

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An examination of the influence of prenatal sex hormones on handedness: Literature review and amniotic fluid data

Cited by 12 publications

References 133 publications

Non-Right Handedness is Associated with More Time Awake After Sleep Onset and Higher Daytime Sleepiness Than Right Handedness: Objective (Actigraphic) and Subjective Data from a Large Community Sample

Non-Right Handedness is Associated with More Time Awake After Sleep Onset and Higher Daytime Sleepiness Than Right Handedness: Objective (Actigraphic) and Subjective Data from a Large Community Sample

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and maternal testosterone-to-estradiol ratio measured in early pregnancy

Development of laterality: Asymmetrical human behaviors and perceptual biases

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