Handedness in the human fetus
@article{Hepper1991HandednessIT, title={Handedness in the human fetus}, author={P. Hepper and S. Shahidullah and R. White}, journal={Neuropsychologia}, year={1991}, volume={29}, pages={1107-1111} }
The developmental origins of behavioural asymmetries, in particular handedness, have aroused considerable interest and debate. Until now such behavioural asymmetries have only been reported after birth. Here we report the existence of handedness before birth, expressed in terms of thumb-sucking by the fetus. Ultrasound observations of fetuses from 15 weeks to term revealed a marked bias for sucking the thumb of the right hand. This preference appears to be maintained throughout pregnancy, is… CONTINUE READING
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