Meta‐analysis of digit ratio 2D:4D shows greater sex difference in the right hand

Hönekopp, Johannes; Watson, Stephen R.

doi:10.1002/ajhb.21054

Cited by 474 publications

(511 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…This side-related difference is also supported by Manning et al [43], who found stronger association between testosterone levels and 2D:4D ratios on the right hand compared with the left hand, as well as by other authors [4]. These authors hypothesize a stronger action of androgens on the digits of the right hand (see [48] for a meta-analysis).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men

et al. 2011

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There is growing evidence that human second-to-fourth digit ratio (or 2D:4D) is related to facial features involved in attractiveness, mediated by in utero hormonal effects. The present study extends the investigation to other phenotypic, hormone-related determinants of human attractiveness: voice and body odour. Pictures of faces with a neutral expression, recordings of voices pronouncing vowels and axillary odour samples captured on cotton pads worn for 24 h were provided by 49 adult male donors. These stimuli were rated on attractiveness and masculinity scales by two groups of 49 and 35 females, approximately half of these in each sample using hormonal contraception. Multivariate regression analyses showed that males' lower (more masculine) right 2D:4D and lower right-minus-left 2D:4D (Dr2l) were associated with a more attractive (and in some cases more symmetrical), but not more masculine, face. However, 2D:4D and Dr2l did not predict voice and body odour masculinity or attractiveness. The results were interpreted in terms of differential effects of prenatal and circulating testosterone, male facial shape being supposedly more dependent on foetal levels (reflected by 2D:4D ratio), whereas body odour and vocal characteristics could be more dependent on variation in adult circulating testosterone levels.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men

et al. 2011

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“…Certainly there is variance in 2D:4D ratio that cannot be attributed to prenatal testosterone alone, and sex or certain phenotypes cannot be predicted from individual digit ratios (17,29). However, 2D:4D ratio is useful for predicting human behavior when comparing groups, and has proven to be a valuable marker for individual differences in prenatal androgen exposure in correlational studies (15)(16)(17).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testosterone administration impairs cognitive empathy in women depending on second-to-fourth digit ratio

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Schutter

Bos

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

293

232

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During social interactions we automatically infer motives, intentions, and feelings from bodily cues of others, especially from the eye region of their faces. This cognitive empathic ability is one of the most important components of social intelligence, and is essential for effective social interaction. Females on average outperform males in this cognitive empathy, and the male sex hormone testosterone is thought to be involved. Testosterone may not only down-regulate social intelligence organizationally, by affecting fetal brain development, but also activationally, by its current effects on the brain. Here, we show that administration of testosterone in 16 young women led to a significant impairment in their cognitive empathy, and that this effect is powerfully predicted by a proxy of fetal testosterone: the right-hand second digit-to-fourth digit ratio. Our data thus not only demonstrate down-regulatory effects of current testosterone on cognitive empathy, but also suggest these are preprogrammed by the very same hormone prenatally. These findings have importance for our understanding of the psychobiology of human social intelligence.

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“…Another supposed retrospective indicator of relative androgen exposure during early development is the ratio between the length of the index finger and the ring finger, the 2D:4D ratio (Grimbos, Dawood, Burriss, Zucker, & Puts, 2010;Hönekopp & Watson, 2010;McFadden & Shubel, 2002;Peters et al, 2002;Williams et al, 2000). Although OAEs and digit ratios, when directly compared, showed no correlation (McFadden & Shubel, 2003;Snihur & Hampson, 2011), these two measures may provide complementary evidence for early androgenic effects on neurobiological sexual differentiation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Click-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions in Children and Adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder

et al. 2014

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Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) are echo-like sounds that are produced by the inner ear in response to click-stimuli. CEOAEs generally have a higher amplitude in women compared to men and neonates already show a similar sex difference in CEOAEs. Weaker responses in males are proposed to originate from elevated levels of testosterone during perinatal sexual differentiation. Therefore, CEOAEs may be usedas a retrospective indicator of someone's perinatal androgen environment. Individuals diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID), according to DSM-IV-TR, are characterized by a strong identification with the other gender and discomfort about their natal sex. Although the etiology of GID is far from established, itishypothesizedthat atypicallevels of sexsteroids during a critical period of sexual differentiation of the brain might play a role. In the present study, we compared CEOAEs in treatmentnaïve children and adolescents with early-onset GID (24 natal boys, 23 natal girls) and control subjects (65 boys, 62 girls). We replicated the sex difference in CEOAE response amplitude in the control group. This sex difference, however, was not present in the GID groups. Boys with GID showed stronger, more female-typical CEOAEs whereas girls with GID did not differ in emissionstrengthcomparedtocontrolgirls.Basedontheassumption that CEOAE amplitude can be seen as an index of relative androgen exposure,our results provide some evidence for the idea that boys with GID may have been exposed to lower amounts of androgen during early development in comparison to control boys.

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Meta‐analysis of digit ratio 2D:4D shows greater sex difference in the right hand

Cited by 474 publications

References 120 publications

Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men

Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men

Testosterone administration impairs cognitive empathy in women depending on second-to-fourth digit ratio

Click-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions in Children and Adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder

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