Inverted posture in right-handers is associated with relative deficits in visuospatial and visuomotor skills

Wendy Heller, Elizabeth F. Jerison Terry, Bennett L. Leventhal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Although a large proportion of left-handed individuals use an inverted hand posture, the phenomenon is rarely observed in right-handers. A number of studies have suggested that among a subset of left-inverters (Lis), hand inversion is associated with anomalies of the neural systems that mediate visuospatial or vi-suomotor functions. In the present study, significant discrepancies between Verbal and Performance IQ were found in a right-inverted (RI) adolescent referred for psychiatric evaluation and in a sample of three RI college students. The results suggest that inversion may be a marker for relative visuospatial and visuomotor deficits in RIs, even when overall IQ is well above average. Furthermore, the findings raise the possibility that when psychiatric problems accompany hand inversion, dysfunction of the nonverbal hemisphere may be implicated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)175-192
Number of pages18
JournalNeuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neurology
Volume4
Issue number3
StatePublished - 1991
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Deficits
  • Hand inversion
  • Left-handedness
  • Visuomotor and visuospatial

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology
  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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