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Ocklenburg S, Borawski J, Mundorf A, Riedel K, Lischke A. Handedness and anxiety: a review. Laterality 2023; 28:336-356. [PMID: 37605527 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2023.2250074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
Handedness is a core phenotype in clinical laterality research and several different disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders have been linked to a higher prevalence of non-right-handedness. Moreover, subclinical personality traits like schizotypy have been linked to a higher prevalence of non-right-handedness. The association with handedness is poorly understood for generalized anxiety disorder and specific phobias, as well as for state and trait anxiety and fear of specific stimuli in nonclinical samples. Therefore, we performed a narrative review of studies investigating handedness in anxiety disorders patients and studies that compared anxiety scores between different handedness groups. Unlike schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders, there seems to be no strong association between anxiety disorders and handedness in adult patients, except for specific phobias. Studies often had small sample sizes and therefore a high risk to report spurious findings. Similar findings were reported in most non-clinical studies. Importantly, familial handedness affects phobia risk and antenatal maternal anxiety increased the probability of mixed-handedness. This suggests that a transgenerational, developmental perspective is essential to better understand the complex interrelations between handedness and anxiety. Familial and especially maternal handedness and anxiety disorders should be integrated into future studies on handedness and anxiety whenever possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- ICAN Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Jette Borawski
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Annakarina Mundorf
- ISM Institute for Systems Medicine and Department of Human Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Kerrin Riedel
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Alexander Lischke
- Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- ICPP Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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Huber KB, Marsolek CJ. Do cerebral motivational asymmetries mediate the relationship between handedness and personality? Laterality 2021; 27:21-56. [PMID: 34238115 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2021.1942483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Handedness has long been tied to personality, but detailed explanations for the association are lacking. Importantly for purposes of theory development, measures of approach and withdrawal associated with Big Five personality traits have also been traced back to activity in brain areas that relate to handedness. Specifically, increased right-hemisphere frontal activity appears to be linked to both withdrawal motivation and left/inconsistent-handedness, while increased left-hemisphere frontal activity is associated with approach motivation and right/consistent-handedness. Cerebral motivational asymmetries therefore present one plausible mechanism by which approach and withdrawal motivation could mediate the relationship between handedness and personality. We tested this possibility in a large online study (N = 499) in which participants completed multiple survey measures. Results indicated that approach/withdrawal motivation partially accounts for relationships between handedness and personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie B Huber
- Psychological Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, River Falls, WI, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Chad J Marsolek
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Abstract
In functional laterality research, most ungulate livestock species have until recently been mainly overlooked. However, there are many scientific and practical benefits of studying laterality in ungulate livestock. As social, precocial and domestic species, they may offer insight into the mechanisms involved in the ontogeny and phylogeny of functional laterality and help to better understand the role of laterality in animal welfare. Until now, most studies on ungulate livestock have focused on motor laterality, but interest in other lateralized functions, e.g., cognition and emotions, is growing. Increasingly more studies are also focused on associations with age, sex, personality, health, stress, production and performance. Although the full potential of research on laterality in ungulate livestock is not yet exploited, findings have already shed new light on central issues in cognitive and emotional processing and laid the basis for potentially useful applications in future practice, e.g., stress reduction during human-animal interactions and improved assessments of health, production and welfare. Future research would benefit from further integration of basic laterality methodology (e.g., testing for individual preferences) and applied ethological approaches (e.g., established emotionality tests), which would not only improve our understanding of functional laterality but also benefit the assessment of animal welfare.
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Kumar S, Saini R, Jain R. Hand preference and intolerance of uncertainty: Atypical cerebral lateralization advantages lower intolerance of uncertainty. Laterality 2019; 25:22-42. [DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2019.1611843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sanjay Kumar
- Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Muzaffarnagar, UP, India
| | - Reena Saini
- Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Muzaffarnagar, UP, India
| | - Ranjeeta Jain
- Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Muzaffarnagar, UP, India
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Ocklenburg S, Schmitz J, Moinfar Z, Moser D, Klose R, Lor S, Kunz G, Tegenthoff M, Faustmann P, Francks C, Epplen JT, Kumsta R, Güntürkün O. Epigenetic regulation of lateralized fetal spinal gene expression underlies hemispheric asymmetries. eLife 2017; 6. [PMID: 28145864 PMCID: PMC5295814 DOI: 10.7554/elife.22784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2016] [Accepted: 01/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Lateralization is a fundamental principle of nervous system organization but its molecular determinants are mostly unknown. In humans, asymmetric gene expression in the fetal cortex has been suggested as the molecular basis of handedness. However, human fetuses already show considerable asymmetries in arm movements before the motor cortex is functionally linked to the spinal cord, making it more likely that spinal gene expression asymmetries form the molecular basis of handedness. We analyzed genome-wide mRNA expression and DNA methylation in cervical and anterior thoracal spinal cord segments of five human fetuses and show development-dependent gene expression asymmetries. These gene expression asymmetries were epigenetically regulated by miRNA expression asymmetries in the TGF-β signaling pathway and lateralized methylation of CpG islands. Our findings suggest that molecular mechanisms for epigenetic regulation within the spinal cord constitute the starting point for handedness, implying a fundamental shift in our understanding of the ontogenesis of hemispheric asymmetries in humans. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22784.001
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Ocklenburg
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Judith Schmitz
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Zahra Moinfar
- Department of Neuroanatomy and Molecular Brain Research, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Dirk Moser
- Department of Genetic Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Rena Klose
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Stephanie Lor
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Georg Kunz
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. Johannes Hospital, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Martin Tegenthoff
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany
| | - Pedro Faustmann
- Department of Neuroanatomy and Molecular Brain Research, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Clyde Francks
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jörg T Epplen
- Department of Human Genetics, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Robert Kumsta
- Department of Genetic Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Onur Güntürkün
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.,Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
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