Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2025
Block Building Task Identifies Distinct Groups of Left/Right-hand Choice Patterns After Unilateral Peripheral Nerve Injury
Published on: March 21, 2025
Handedness in low-birthweight children: Insights in lateralization
1Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Insights
Low-birthweight (LBW) children showed delayed brain lateralization and cognitive development compared to normal birthweight (NBW) children. This suggests birth weight impacts neurological development and hand preference in children.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Birth weight is a critical factor in child development.
- Neurological development, including brain lateralization, is essential for cognitive and motor skills.
- Handedness and hand proficiency are indicators of brain lateralization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between birth weight and the development of handedness and hand proficiency in children.
- To assess if low birth weight (LBW) affects cognitive abilities and lateralization compared to normal birth weight (NBW) children.
Main Methods:
- Assessed intelligence using Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) in LBW and NBW children aged 5-12 years.
- Evaluated handedness and hand proficiency for unimanual and bimanual tasks.
- Compared performance metrics between LBW (n=96) and NBW (n=96) groups from Delhi, India.
Main Results:
- LBW children scored lower on RCPM intelligence tests compared to NBW children.
- LBW children exhibited less lateralization in hand preference.
- LBW children showed faster unimanual sorting but slower bimanual coordination, indicating potential delays in interhemispheric transfer.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest a significant relationship between birth weight and the development of lateralization in children.
- LBW may be associated with delayed neurological development, impacting cognitive and motor skills.
- Hand preference and proficiency serve as valuable indicators of neurodevelopmental status in relation to birth weight.
Abstract:
Low-birthweight (LBW) children (n = 96) weighing less than 2.5 kg at birth and normal birthweight (NBW) children (n = 96) from Delhi, India, between the ages of 5 and 12 years were assessed for intelligence with Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM), their handedness and hand proficiency for unimanual and bimanual performance. The objective was to know if there is a relation between birthweight and the development of handedness. Compared with NBW children, the LBW group had lower percentile scores for the RCPM. The LBW children were less lateralized than the NBW children in the hand preference test. The LBW children were faster than the NBW for sorting objects with each hand separately, but they were slower in the bimanual envelope task. This indicates a delay in interhemispheric transfer and the development of the corpus callosum that connects the cerebral hemispheres to enable bimanual coordination. In the absence of more direct evidence, hand skill was used as an index of the extent of lateralized control for performance. Findings indicate a relation between birthweight and lateralization in children tested for hand preference.
More Related Videos
07:44Assessment of Cerebral Lateralization in Children using Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound fTCD
Published on: September 27, 2010
07:03Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice
Published on: July 31, 2019
Related Concept Videos
01:28Lateralization
01:05Cerebral Hemispheres
01:21The Nativist Approach