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Evidence for a maternal effect on infant hand‐use preferences
Author(s) -
Harkins Debra A.,
Michel George F.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.420210604
Subject(s) - left handed , hand preference , offspring , preference , psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , laterality , pregnancy , economics , genetics , microeconomics , physics , biology , optics
Left‐handed offspring occur more frequently when one or both parents are left‐handed. Among parental pairs with discordant handedness, left‐handed mothers have more left‐handed offspring than do left‐handed fathers. No previous study has looked for this maternal effect in the hand‐use preferences of infants. Handedness of 42 infants (21 females) 6–13 months of age ( M = 10 months) was assessed by a reliable and valid procedure that provides hand‐use preference scores separately for reaching and unimanual manipulation of objects. Equal numbers of age‐matched male and female infants were formed into three groups representing different patterns of parental handedness: neither parent lefthanded, father left‐handed, mother left‐handed. Infants of left‐handed mothers showed more left hand‐use than infants of left‐handed fathers or infants of right‐handed parents. Indeed, 64% of infants with left‐handed mothers had significant left hand‐use preference scores whereas none of the infants in the other groups had significant left hand‐use preference scores. Possible mechanisms for this maternal effect on infant hand‐use preferences are discussed.