Behavioral and Brain Sciences


Short Communication

Dual asymmetries in handedness


Gregory V. Jones a1 and Maryanne Martin a2

a1 Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom G.V.Jones@warwick.ac.uk www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/Psychology/staff/academic.html#GJ
a2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, United Kingdom mary.martin@psy.ox.ac.uk epwww.psych.ox.ac.uk/general/info/memstaff.htm

Abstract

The possibility that two forms of asymmetry underlie handedness is considered. Corballis has proposed that right-handedness developed when gesture encountered lateralized vocalization but may have been superimposed on a preexisting two-thirds dominance. Evidence is reviewed here which suggests that the baseline asymmetry is even more substantial than this, with possible implications for brain anatomy and genetic theories of handedness.