Latent variable analysis indicates that seasonal anisotropy accounts for the higher prevalence of left-handedness in men

Tran, Ulrich S.; Stieger, Stefan; Voracek, Martin

Latent variable analysis indicates that seasonal anisotropy accounts for the higher prevalence of left-handedness in men

Files

Tran_0-261121.pdf(1.54 MB)

Date

2014

Authors

Tran, Ulrich S.

Stieger, Stefan

Voracek, Martin

Publication type

Journal article

Published in

Cortex ; 57 (2014). - pp. 188-197. - ISSN 0010-9452. - eISSN 1973-8102

Abstract

According to the Geschwind-Galaburda theory of cerebral lateralization, high intrauterine testosterone levels delay left brain hemisphere maturation and thus promote left-handedness. Human circulating testosterone levels are higher in the male fetus and also vary with length of photoperiod. Therefore, a higher prevalence of left-handedness, coupled with seasonal anisotropy (i.e., a non-uniform distribution of handedness across birth months or seasons), may be expected among men. Prior studies yielded inconsistent evidence for seasonal anisotropy and suffered from confounding and a number of shortcomings affecting statistical power. This study examined hand preference and associations of handedness with sex, age, and season of birth in independent discovery (n = 7658) and replication (n = 5062) samples from Central Europe with latent class analysis (LCA). We found clear evidence of a surplus of left-handed men born during the period November–January, which is consistent with predictions from the Geschwind-Galaburda theory. Moreover, seasonal anisotropy fully accounted for the higher prevalence of left-handedness among men, relative to women. Implications of these findings with regard to seasonal anisotropy research and handedness assessment and classification are discussed.

Subject (DDC)

150 Psychology

Keywords

Handedness, Laterality, Seasonal variation, Seasonal anisotropy, Latent class analysis

Cite This

ISO 690

TRAN, Ulrich S., Stefan STIEGER, Martin VORACEK, 2014. Latent variable analysis indicates that seasonal anisotropy accounts for the higher prevalence of left-handedness in men. In: Cortex. 57, pp. 188-197. ISSN 0010-9452. eISSN 1973-8102. Available under: doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.04.011

BibTex

@article{Tran2014Laten-29689,
  year={2014},
  doi={10.1016/j.cortex.2014.04.011},
  title={Latent variable analysis indicates that seasonal anisotropy accounts for the higher prevalence of left-handedness in men},
  volume={57},
  issn={0010-9452},
  journal={Cortex},
  pages={188--197},
  author={Tran, Ulrich S. and Stieger, Stefan and Voracek, Martin}
}

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