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Interrelationship of limb dominance and sensory function across age
Sameer Kumar1, Indiwar Misra, Shanti Suman
1Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kharagpur, India.
The International Journal of Neuroscience
|March 5, 2010
Summary
This study on 3,474 individuals found a strong link between hand and foot preference. A general rightward shift in side dominance was observed with increasing age across all assessed forms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Human Motor Control
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding laterality, or side dominance, is crucial for cognitive and motor development.
- Previous research has explored various aspects of dominance, but comprehensive analysis across age groups and multiple modalities is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between different types of side dominance (hand, foot, visual, auditory) in a large, diverse age cohort.
- To determine how these associations change across the lifespan.
- To identify age-related shifts in overall side dominance patterns.
Main Methods:
- A 22-item questionnaire assessed side dominance in 3,474 participants aged 9 to 83 years.
- Data were analyzed using trichotomous (left, mixed, right) association analysis to examine relationships between dominance indices.
- Contingency coefficients were calculated to quantify the strength of associations.
Main Results:
- A significant and high association was found between hand and foot preference across all age groups.
- This hand-foot association was stronger than other paired dominance associations (e.g., hand-eye, foot-ear).
- A consistent trend of a rightward shift in side dominance was observed with increasing age, affecting all assessed modalities.
Conclusions:
- Hand and foot preference are strongly interconnected aspects of an individual's laterality.
- Human side dominance exhibits a developmental trajectory, with a general shift towards right-sidedness observed as individuals age.
- These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the neurodevelopmental basis of human lateralization.
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