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Stress exposure, hand preference, and hand skill: A deep phenotyping approach
Annakarina Mundorf1, Stephan Getzmann2, Patrick D Gajewski2
1Institute for Systems Medicine and Department of Human Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Laterality
|April 26, 2023
Summary
Hand preference measures, like the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) and Lateral Preference Inventory (LPI), strongly correlate with stress and mental well-being. Hand performance tests show weaker associations, emphasizing the importance of precise handedness phenotyping.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Biology
Background:
- Handedness and stress reactivity associations are not fully understood, potentially due to varied measurement methods.
- Different measures of laterality, such as hand preference versus performance, may capture distinct dimensions and are not interchangeable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between various handedness measures and dimensions of stress exposure, reactivity, and mental well-being.
- To evaluate the utility of different handedness phenotyping methods in relation to psychological and physiological stress indicators.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 599 participants in the longitudinal Dortmund Vital Study.
- Assessed hand preference using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) and Lateral Preference Inventory (LPI), and hand performance via the pegboard test.
- Analyzed hair cortisol levels and mental well-being indicators alongside handedness data.
Main Results:
- All assessed handedness measures showed significant intercorrelations, with EHI and LPI hand scores exhibiting the strongest relationship.
- EHI and LPI hand preference measures demonstrated the most substantial and consistent correlations with stress and mental well-being indicators.
- The pegboard test for hand performance showed minimal association with stress and mental well-being measures.
Conclusions:
- Accurate and comprehensive handedness phenotyping is crucial for understanding its link with mental health.
- Hand preference measures, such as EHI and LPI, are more informative than hand performance tests for disentangling the relationship between handedness and psychological well-being.
