Handedness and social anxiety: Using Bryden's research as a catalyst to explore the influence of familial sinistrality and degree of handedness

Abstract

Phil Bryden's work has impacted on many areas of laterality, including degree and measurement of hand preference, as well as influences of familial sinistrality (FS). For example, Bryden[(1977). Measuring handedness with questionnaires. Neuropsychologia, 15, 617-624] is a well-cited and influential paper that remains relevant to this day. Inspired by this we extended our analysis of the relationship between handedness and anxiety in a number of ways. We used familial handedness and strength of handedness to examine their potential influences on anxiety, and extended our research by exploring their relationship to social anxiety, using the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Inconsistent left-handers (ILH) were found to be more socially anxious. In all categories of SPIN except avoidance, ILH were significantly more anxious than consistent right- and left-handers. There were FS differences between ILH with a first degree left-handed relative (FS+) compared to ILH with no first degree left-handed relative (FS-) on all categories of anxiety scores. Within FS+ participants, ILH had significantly higher anxiety scores, compared with consistent handers across all categories. This suggests that ILH's social anxiety may be influenced by a close left-handed relative. Inspired by examining Bryden's work for this special issue, we will continue to add both strength of preference and familial handedness to our work.

Epigenetic regulation of lateralized fetal spinal gene expression underlies hemispheric asymmetries

“…The relevance of handedness has recently been highlighted by Willems et al ( Willems et al, 2014 ), who state that it is one of the most important factors influencing the individual brain organization and that explicit inclusion of left-handers in experimental studies has strongly improved our understanding of language, motor behavior and visual processing. Handedness might not only be a behavioral proxy for individual brain organization, but is also interesting from a clinical perspective: A variety of neuropsychiatric and developmental disorders like autism spectrum disorders ( Colby and Parkison, 1977 ; Forrester et al, 2014 ; Preslar et al, 2014 ; Rysstad and Pedersen, 2016 ), depression ( Denny, 2009 ; Elias et al, 2001 ; Logue et al, 2015 ), bipolar disorder ( van Dyck et al, 2012 ; Nowakowska et al, 2008 ), anxiety disorders ( Logue et al, 2015 ; Hicks and Pellegrini, 1978 ; Orme, 1970 ; Wright and Hardie, 2012 ; Hardie et al, 2016 ; Lyle et al, 2013 ), schizophrenia ( Hirnstein and Hugdahl, 2014 ; Dragovic and Hammond, 2005 ; Sommer et al, 2001 ) or alcoholism ( Denny, 2011 ; Mandal et al, 2000 ; Sperling et al, 2000 ) has been associated with left- and mixed-handedness. Thus, understanding the ontogenesis of handedness and hemispheric asymmetries in general could potentially yield important insights into pathogenesis of these disorders.…”

A Matter of Degree: Strength of Brain Asymmetry and Behaviour

“…For example, using this method Hardie et al [44] found that social anxiety was highest in the inconsistent left-hand preferring group. This result exemplifies the need for precise measurement of hand preference as a finer approach in future studies.…”

From Science to Practice: A Review of Laterality Research on Ungulate Livestock

“…Such responses are expressed through consistent coping styles or temperaments [183], also referred to as personality. While in humans there is no clear consensus on the association between handedness and personality [200], studies on non-human mammals often suggest that left-biased individuals are more fearful/less bold, more pessimistic and less explorative than right-biased individuals [183,[201][202][203]. Some findings on ungulate livestock support this general pattern [149,173].…”