TY - JOUR
T1 - A Twin Study of Individual Differences in Perceptual Asymmetry
AU - Valera, Eve M.
AU - Heller, Wendy
AU - Berenbaum, Howard
PY - 1999/7
Y1 - 1999/7
N2 - Individual differences in perceptual asymmetry have been associated with individual differences in cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, and psychiatric symptoms, for which between-person variation appears to be genetically influenced. Perceptual asymmetry scores are also associated with direction of handedness, for which between-person variation does not appear to be genetically influenced. To assess whether between-person variation of perceptual asymmetry scores is genetically influenced, we examined asymmetry on a free-vision task of face processing, the Chimeric Faces Task (CFT), in a sample of 31 monozygotic (MZ) and 20 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. MZ and DZ within-twin-pair resemblances were compared to assess genetic and familial influences on asymmetric hemispheric function. We found that twins within a pair were no more likely to resemble each other than were unrelated individuals. The results suggest that the between-person variation in CFT perceptual asymmetry is not influenced by genes or shared environment.
AB - Individual differences in perceptual asymmetry have been associated with individual differences in cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, and psychiatric symptoms, for which between-person variation appears to be genetically influenced. Perceptual asymmetry scores are also associated with direction of handedness, for which between-person variation does not appear to be genetically influenced. To assess whether between-person variation of perceptual asymmetry scores is genetically influenced, we examined asymmetry on a free-vision task of face processing, the Chimeric Faces Task (CFT), in a sample of 31 monozygotic (MZ) and 20 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. MZ and DZ within-twin-pair resemblances were compared to assess genetic and familial influences on asymmetric hemispheric function. We found that twins within a pair were no more likely to resemble each other than were unrelated individuals. The results suggest that the between-person variation in CFT perceptual asymmetry is not influenced by genes or shared environment.
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U2 - 10.1080/713754340
DO - 10.1080/713754340
M3 - Article
C2 - 15513119
AN - SCOPUS:0004303239
SN - 1357-650X
VL - 4
SP - 299
EP - 311
JO - Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition
JF - Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition
IS - 3
ER -