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The nature and nurture of human infant hand preference

Jacqueline Fagard1

  • 1Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. jacqueline.fagard@parisdescartes.fr

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|April 27, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Right-handedness prevalence stems from early life environmental reinforcement of an intrinsic tendency. Genetic and environmental factors interact throughout development, explaining handedness variability in populations.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Biology

Background:

  • Manual and postural asymmetries are observable early in fetal development and infancy.
  • Understanding the origins of these asymmetries is crucial for developmental studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review early documented manual and postural asymmetries.
  • To analyze genetic and environmental factors influencing these asymmetries.
  • To explore the consequences of these asymmetries on each other.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of documented fetal and infant manual and postural asymmetries.
  • Analysis of potential genetic and environmental triggers.
  • Examination of the interplay between asymmetries and developmental influences.

Main Results:

  • Right-handedness is prevalent across cultures due to consistent reinforcement from prenatal to cultural environments.
  • Both direct (motoric) and indirect (postural) genetic factors contribute to handedness.
  • Environmental influences (biological and cultural) significantly shape handedness development.

Conclusions:

  • An intrinsic tendency for right-handedness is amplified by multiple environmental factors.
  • The complex interplay of genetics and environment explains the variability in handedness.
  • Hand preference should be distinguished from the writing hand for accurate assessment.

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