Asymmetry and orientation of arm movements in three- to eight-week-old infants

McDonnell, Paul M.; Anderson, Vivienne E.S.; Abraham, Wayne

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(83)80037-x

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…We suggest that these rightward-biased behaviors indicate greater inhibition, by the more mature right hemisphere, of the subcortically mediated movement patterns on the left side of the body, although it has sometimes been inferred that those behavioral asymmetries may reflect left hemisphere specialization. A rightto-left gradient in corticalization should also imply earlier appearance of certain more mature or voluntary forms of behavior on the left than on the right side, under right hemisphere activation, which has indeed been shown by McDonnell, Anderson, and Abraham (1983) for young infants' hand movements in response to visual targets. Those authors found that 3-to 8-week-old infants' left-hand movements were more frequent, more appropriately oriented, and farther extended toward the target than were their right-hand movements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Baby, it's in your smile: Right hemiface bias in infant emotional expressions.

Best¹,

Queen²

1989

Developmental Psychology

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Adult facial expressions are more intense on the left hemiface, suggesting right hemisphere emotional specialization. In this research, adult judgments of mirror-image chimeras indicated that infant expressions are more intense on the right hemiface, which is not predicted by current models of adult cerebral asymmetries. The rightward bias was stronger when judgments were restricted to the central facial features in computer-digitized images of the chimeric faces. Because the mouth and eye regions receive contralateral versus bilateral cortical input, respectively, separate judgments of the mouth and eyes/brows were obtained. Only the mouths showed a significant rightward bias, implicating cortical rather than lower-level mechanisms. The results were replicated with a second set of infants. The findings are interpreted as support for a right-to-left gradient in development of cortical inhibition over subcortical influences on facial expressions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Baby, it's in your smile: Right hemiface bias in infant emotional expressions.

Best¹,

Queen²

1989

Developmental Psychology

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“…For instance, in one study investigating infants from 3 to 8 weeks, the majority (14 of 15) showed a consistent leftsided bias for number of reaches toward targets presented at different positions from the body midline (McDonnell, Anderson, & Abraham, 1983). In another, a stable rightsided preference for reaching during the first 6 months of life was found (Michel & Harkins, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative assessment of right and left reaching movements in infants: A longitudinal study from 6 to 36 months

Rönnqvist

Domellöf

2006

Developmental Psychobiology

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This longitudinal study aimed to explore the early presence and developmental pattern of laterality in reaching kinematics and its relationship to side use. In order to do so, 3-D kinematic measurements as well as 2-D video recordings of right-left reaching movements were successively carried out for 17 infants at the ages of 6, 9, 12, and 36 months. Additional investigations of hand preference were made at 36 months. As four infants were prematurely born, their outcomes were compared to those of the fullterm participants. While most of the infants in the early ages showed a rather inconsistent preference in terms of frequency and distributions of right-left side use, the analyses of reaching kinematics revealed a more consistent pattern of fewer movements units (MUs) and straighter right-sided reaching for the majority of infants at all tested ages. However, reaching kinematics from the preterm infants were generally more variable and less side consistent. It is proposed that the development of human handedness originates from an early right arm rather than hand preference in that representations of asymmetry in bilateral projections (involved in arm movements) developmentally precede contralateral projections (involved in refined hand/finger movements).

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“…In neonates, the left‐sided lateralisation of spontaneous smiling may be linked to earlier right‐sided hemispheric maturation: greater EEG activation is seen on the right during AS (Sterman, McGinty, Harper, Hoppenbrouwers, & Hodgman, 1982) and right hemispheric dominance in response to visual stimuli has also been reported (Crowell, Jones, Kapuniai, & Nakagawa, 1973). Further evidence comes from the fact that transient motor activities in newborns and infants are more marked on the left side of the body (McDonnell, Anderson, & Abraham, 1983). Some authors have proposed a link between asymmetric smiling and the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), which is present during the first 2–3 months of life and usually disappears by 6–7 months (Kawakami et al., 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further evidence comes from the fact that transient motor activities in newborns and infants are more marked on the left side of the body (McDonnell, Anderson, & Abraham, 1983). Some authors have proposed a link between asymmetric smiling and the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), which is present during the first 2-3 months of life and usually disappears by 6-7 months (Kawakami et al, 2006).…”

Section: Left-side Predominance Of Spontaneous Smilingmentioning

confidence: 99%