Why are there (almost) no left-handers in China?

Kushner, Howard I.

doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2012.12.003

Cited by 72 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Roughly 90% of people have a preference for using the right hand for complex manual tasks (Gilbert and Wysocki, 1992;Kushner, 2013;Peters et al, 2006). A minority of roughly 10% prefer to use the left hand, and a smaller group of roughly 1% has no clear preference, the so-called 'ambidextrous' people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness

Kovel

Carrión-Castillo

Francks

2018

Preprint

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Running Title: Handedness and early life factors in the UK Biobank AbstractHand preference is a conspicuous variation in human behaviour, with a worldwide proportion of around 90% of people preferring to use the right hand for many tasks, and 10% the left hand. As the developmental foundations of hand preference occur in utero, with further establishment within the first two years of life, prenatal and early-life factors are likely to play a role. Various, often related, factors have been studied in the past, but often in small samples, or samples with biased selection schemes. We used the large, general population cohort of the UK biobank (~500,000 participants) to study possible relations between early life factors and adult hand preference. The probability of being left-handed was affected by the year and location of birth, birthweight, being part of a multiple birth, season of birth, breastfeeding, as well as sex, with each effect remaining significant after accounting for all others. Maternal smoking showed no association with handedness. Analysis of genome-wide polymorphism data indicated a tentative genetic correlation between handedness and birth-weight, which was opposite to their overall phenotypic correlation. However, the total effect on handedness of all these factors was very small. Therefore other, unknown effects must be involved, including possible environmental factors, and/or random developmental variation with respect to the left-right formation of the embryonic brain.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness

Kovel

Carrión-Castillo

Francks

2018

Preprint

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“…The strong predominance of right-handedness appears to be a uniquely human characteristic, whereas the left-cerebral dominance for vocalization occurs in many species, including frogs, birds, and mammals. Right-handedness may have arisen because of an association between manual gestures and vocalization in the evolution of language [33].In the hospital setting where a lot of dexterity is needed and often the dominant hand is engaged there may be increased use of the contralateral side which might explain the reason for the use of the nondominant side for picking calls and conversation as seen in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Besides, in our environment, religious and cultural perceptions play an important role in the restriction of left hand use. This is similarly observed among the Chinese who have a very low prevalence of left handers [33]. It is common for parents, caregivers and even members of the community to try to discourage a child prone to using left hand and thus forcing the child to depart from the natural dominance to "acquired" one.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Hemispheric Dominance and Laterality in Mobile Phone Use in Adults: An Observational Study

Onyeagwara

Okhakhu

2019

AJMAH

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Aims: Mobile/cell phone use has become an important socio-medical means of communication. The reason people use a particular ear to answer phone calls more frequently may be associated with hemispheric dominance/ handedness. We aim to determine association between hemispheric and or auditory dominance in laterality in mobile phone use. Study Design: This was a three month prospective cross-sectional study involving all consenting medical and paramedical respondents. Place and Duration of Study: Hospital community in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City , between 15 th March to 15 th June 2018. Method: A modification of the Edinburgh handedness inventory (EHI) was the survey tool. Information retrieved included social demographics, hand most commonly used for activities like writing and picking of phone calls and ear used for phone conversation and the reasons. Data was analyzed using SPSS 19.0 Results: Of the 300 questionnaires distributed, 234 (78%) were completed by the respondents. Onyeagwara and Okhakhu; AJMAH, 14(4): 1-9, 2019; Article no.AJMAH.48242 2 There were 120(51.3%) males and114 (48.7%) females. Age ranged from 18 -80years. A total of 201(85.9%) were right handed, 16(6.8%) left handed and 14(6.0%) ambidextrous. One hundred and fifty four (66%) routinely use their right hand to pick phone calls, 50(21.4%) left and 27 (11.5%) use both hands. A total of 141(60%) receive calls with the right ear, 60 (25.6%) with left, and 31(13.2%) had no preference. Reasons advanced for the use of any particular ear included convenience 173 (73.9%), and better acuity 35(15%). Forty two (17.9%) agreed that the use of cell phone made them aware of their poor hearing in a particular ear. Using Pearson's two tailed test of significance the probability of a right hander using the right hand to pick a phone call and placing it on the right ear is 0.99 or 99%, Vis a Vis left hander. Original Research ArticleConclusion: There appears to be an association between hemispheric dominance and laterality when using the mobile phone.

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“…We have not found any distinct information about healthy preschoolers and left‐handedness in the literature. It is generally accepted that 10%‐12% of people are left‐handed [27]. Of those children with a preference to rotate the head to the left as infants, twice as many were left‐handed compared with those with a preference to rotate the head to the right side.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children Who Had Congenital Torticollis as Infants Are Not at Higher Risk for a Delay in Motor Development at Preschool Age

Öhman¹,

Beckung²

2013

PM&R

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Why are there (almost) no left-handers in China?

Cited by 72 publications

References 49 publications

A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness

A large-scale population study of early life factors influencing left-handedness

Hemispheric Dominance and Laterality in Mobile Phone Use in Adults: An Observational Study

Children Who Had Congenital Torticollis as Infants Are Not at Higher Risk for a Delay in Motor Development at Preschool Age

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