Laterality Asymmetries of Body Brain and Cognition· 2026Q1
How many handednesses: The importance of preference and limb lateralization for the handedness phenotype
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A new framework proposes measuring human handedness by incorporating limb lateralization alongside hand preference, arguing that this captures functional hand use and ancestral selection pressures better than preference alone.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Human handedness is likely influenced by coordinated movements of limbs and body, not just hand preference.
- Measuring limb lateralization alongside hand preference offers a more complete picture of functional hand use.
- Algorithmic analysis (e.g., cluster analysis) is recommended for categorizing handedness from continuous data to reduce researcher bias.
- The choice of handedness measurement method should align with specific research questions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The phenotype of human handedness is likely to be a product of the ecological conditions experienced by our ancestors, with different forms of handedness having different fitness costs and benefits. Human hands, limbs, and bodies move in a coordinated fashion, so that hand lateralization is likely to have also entailed the evolution of limb and body lateralization. Consequently, we suggest that a measure of handedness should incorporate measures of limb lateralization. Measures of handedness that do not represent these differences may not capture the functional properties of an individual's hand use, or the types of handedness that were selected for in ancestral environments. The advantages of measuring lateral preference rather than skill are also highlighted. Finally, we suggest that to determine categories from continuously measured data, it may be better to use algorithmic analysis techniques, such as cluster analysis, latent class analysis, or dual Weibull mixture models. These reduce researcher degrees of freedom, while being able to capture the dimensional and categorical nature of handedness. Ultimately, methods to determine handedness should be suited to the specific research question, and no single method may suit all circumstances.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Laterality Asymmetries of Body Brain and Cognition, 2026 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience