[Characteristics of body constitution and their relations to success in learning]

Somatotype, finger dermatoglyphic pattern type, emotional stability level and foreign languages learning successfulness have been analyzed in 297 male cadets (aged 17-20 years) of the Military Institute of Physical Training. The cadets studied most frequently belonged to macrosomal and mesosomal somatotypes. In the study of finger patterns, loops were found to be most common (61.5% of all the patterns), while ringlets (33.4%) and arc patterns (5.1%) were less frequent. The amount of ulnar loops increased, while that of ringlets became less in the direction from micro- to macrosomal type. Almost half (46.9%) of the cadets appeared to be ambiverts, 30.8% were intraverts and the rest were extraverts. Loop patterns on all the fingers to a greater extent were found in cadets with high level of neuroticism; the cadets having lower neuroticism level were characterized by a combinations of loops with arcs on the left hand and arcs with ringlets on the right one. The cadets differing in foreign language learning successfulness level were different in their dermatoglyphic patterns and, especially in the prevalence of pattern combinations. So, among the excellent pupils the loop-arc combinations were 2.7 times more common and combinations of all three types of patterns (arcs, loops, ringlets) were 1.4 times more common.