Original scientific paper
Evaluation of Hand Asymmetry in Relation to Hand Preference
Cagatay Barut
Ozdemir Sevinc
Vildan Sumbuloglu
Abstract
We evaluated the asymmetric hand measurements in right- and left-handed individuals. 343 men and 290 women
aged 18–42 years (22.11±2.07) participated in the study. There were no statistically significant differences when right–left
differences in hand length, third finger length, palmar length, and the digit index value were evaluated according to
hand preference and sex. Statistically significant differences were found for right–left differences in hand width, hand-
-shape index, and the palmar length/width according to hand preference. The strong left-handers, weak left-handers,
and ambidextrous individuals in the study group all exhibited asymmetry favoring the left and were considered together.
Similarly, the strong and weak right-handers exhibited asymmetry favoring the right hand and were considered together.
The difference between these two groups was significant. When the data were evaluated according to sex, significant
differences were found between the subgroups. In particular, right–left differences in the hand-shape index and palmar
length/width values of the strong left-handers, weak left-handers, and ambidextrous individuals were found to be
statistically significant according to sex; in contrast, the strong and weak right-handers showed no significant differences
according to sex. These results suggest a relation of hand asymmetry to hand preference in a Turkish population.
Keywords
hand preference; Edinburgh Inventory; laterality; human
Hrčak ID:
75617
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2011.
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