Asymmetry of finger temperature and early behavior
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1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-3870, USA.
Developmental Psychobiology
|December 1, 1995
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physiology
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Fingertip temperature can reflect physiological states.
- Asymmetry in physiological measures is not well-understood in early childhood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate fingertip temperature asymmetry in 4-year-old children.
- To explore the relationship between fingertip temperature asymmetry and behavioral/physiological traits.
Main Methods:
- Measured fingertip temperatures in 83 children aged 4 years.
- Assessed fear responses and forehead temperature in a subset of 20 children at 21 months.
Main Results:
- Found significant asymmetry: left index and right ring fingers were coolest.
- Children with cooler right ring fingers showed increased fear and cooler foreheads earlier.
Conclusions:
- Fingertip temperature asymmetry is present in young children.
- This asymmetry may be linked to early behavioral and physiological development, including fearfulness.
Abstract:
Measures of the temperature of the fingertips of eighty-three 4-year-old children revealed an unexpected asymmetry in which the index finger of the left hand but the ring finger of the right hand were the coolest digits. In addition, a subset of 20 children who had the coolest right compared with the left ring finger were more fearful to unfamiliar events and also had a cooler right than left forehead at 21 months of age.
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