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Human Brain Laterality Markers and IQ:A Comparative Analysis

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Human Brain Laterality Markers and IQ:A Comparative Analysis European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 10 , 2020 Human brain laterality markers and IQ:A comparative analysis 1. Vishram Singh, 2. Ruchira Sethi, 3. Rahul Rai*, 4. Yogesh Yadav 1. Professor, Department of Anatomy, Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad 2. Professor, Department of Anatomy, Heritage Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi 3. PhD Scholar, Department of Anatomy, Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad 4. Professor, Department of Anatomy, Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad Corresponding Author* Rahul Rai Department of Anatomy Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad Email: [email protected] Abstract Introduction: Laterality is the preferences of individuals for use of symmetrical body parts. The intelligence of a person is associated with brain lateralization. All the markers for brain lateralization may have a correlation to the IQ level of an individual. Thus, the present study is an effort to define the correlation between IQ and hand-foot-eye preference of an individual, also included with study is the pattern of hair whorl. Materials and methods: With total of 600 participants, Edinburg Handedness Inventory, Chapman foot inventory and Miles test were used to assess handedness, footedness and eyedness respectively. Intelligence was assessed by Raven's Colored Matrices test for age group 3-11 years and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices test for age group 12-20 years. Results: The Raven's Matrices score was significantly high in case of left handed, left footed and left eyed individuals compared to their right handed counterparts. Conclusion: In this study left handed, left footed and left eyed individuals were found to have higher IQ levels. Key words: Laterality, IQ, Handedness, Preference 3749 European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 10 , 2020 Introduction Human brain is divided into two hemispheres which are very similar anatomically but differ in their specialized functions. The left hemisphere controls the right while the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. Each hemisphere performs very precise and complex activities such as speech, cognitive thinking, writing, depending upon their own coordination and combined effort. For this co-operative work to happen there is necessity of structured and automatized bilateral integrity which had given rise to the concept of brain lateralization that is termed as Laterality [1]. Laterality can be defined as the individual's preference on the use of symmetrical body parts, such as hand, foot, eye and ear [2]. For instance, if an individual prefers to use his/her right hand, the brain hemisphere that is more dominant in such individual is the left hemisphere while if one chooses to use left hand then, the brain hemisphere that is more dominant would be right hemisphere. Handedness is the most commonly studied marker of brain laterality and the association between handedness and the cognitive abilities of an individual have been shown in previous studies. Studies have shown left handed individuals to be more creative and with higher cognitive abilities compared to right handed individuals, thereby indicating more specialized right hemisphere in left handers [3,4]. Despite of having higher intellectual abilities, left handed individuals are overlooked in our society due to persisting cultural and social norms like for performing any religious act, eating, social greeting and interactions. The use of left hand in such activities is considered to be rude, undisciplined and unfavorable. Unfortunately, use of left hand has been restricted to the maintenance of personal hygiene [5]. Due to such traditions and false beliefs, people in our community consider use of left hand to be unclean and untraditional. In addition to this misery, the technologies that are flourishing more rapidly in this 21st century are also for right side dominant. As for example, designing of machineries, cars, gadgets etc have been made keeping focus on the right handers. When the left handed individuals are forced to change their handedness to right, it affects the intellectual development there by creating physiological, educational and social burden during interim development of children [6]. For every dominant hand there is a dominant foot which is also an important marker of cerebral laterality. However, not much literature is available correlating footedness with cognitive abilities. Footednees can serve as better indictors compare to handedness in terms of brain lateralization as it is less affected by social and cultural factors. Of course there exists variation in social belief with regards to use of right and left foot too. For instances, it is considered good sign to enter holy place, auspicious ceremony or a new house with the right foot first [7]. 3750 European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 10 , 2020 Another important marker of laterality is eyedness. Many researchers have suggested eyedness to be more fundamental measure of cerebral laterality as it is not influenced by cultural pressure. Also the proper coordination between eyedness and handedness is important for intellectual development as in case of reading and speech. Like eyedness, hair whorl direction can also serve as important marker of lateralization and is not influenced by social or cultural beliefs [8,9]. Till date there exists a debate on whether left brain dominant individuals are more intelligent or vice versa. Most of the previous studies have focused only on handedness as the markers of laterality and IQ, while use of foot, eye and hair whorl direction have been neglected. Also such types of studies have been conducted rarely in India. Therefore, in this study we used foot, eye and hair whorl in addition to hand as brain laterality markers and targeted to find out level of intelligence in both right and left lateralized individuals. Materials and Methods In this study, 600 participants were selected from different schools and colleges of Jaunpur and Varanasi districts. Equal number of right and left handed participants were selected randomly. Inclusion criteria • Volunteers of age group between 3-20 years • Volunteers who consented to participate Exclusion criteria • Participants with any gross deformity, anomaly or mental retardation • Participants not willing to give consent Prior to study ethical approval was obtained from Institutional ethical committee and consent was obtained from either the participants or their parents in case of minors. Each was informed about the study and the procedures to be used. For the assessment of handedness, Edinburg Handedness Inventory was used [10] while for assessment of footedness Chapman foot preference inventory [11] was used. Miles test was used to assess the dominant eye [12]. To assess the individual level of intelligence, Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices Test (RCPMT) for the age group between 3-11 years and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices Test (RSPMT) for age group between 12-20 years were used. RCPMT have 36 questions divided into 3 sets, each with 12 questions. RSPMT have 60 questions divided into 5 sets, each having 12 questions [13]. The participants were briefed about the test and instructed to choose correct option. After completion, the time taken by the participants was noted and a score was generated (vide infra) which was later analyzed in terms of hand, foot, eye preference and hair whorls. The score was used to categorize subjects into following categories: 3751 European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 10 , 2020 1. Intellectually superior (score >95th percentile) 2. Above average intellectually ability (score ≥ 75th percentile)) 3. Average intellectual ability (score between-75 th25th-75th percentile) percentile) 4. Below average (score ≤ 25th percentile) 5. Intellectually impaired (score ≤ 5th percentile) percentile) Results- The distribution of subjects with reference to handedness, footedness, eyedness and hair whorl pattern (HWc=clockwise and HWa=anticlockwise) is shown in figure 1. Figure 1: Distribution of participants based on markers of laterality 80 70 67.2 60 53.3 55.8 50 50 50 46.7 44.2 40 32.8 30 Percentage (%) Percentage 20 10 0 RH LH RF LF RE LE HWc HWa Laterality markers Figure 2: Distribution of participants based on Gender 80 Male 69.6 70 Female 64.4 60 56.2 55.8 55.9 52.3 50 51 49 48 47.7 50 43.8 44.2 44.1 40 35.6 30.4 30 20 10 0 RH LH RF LF RE LE HWc HWa Laterality Markers The gender distribution of study subjects with respect to laterality markers is shown in figure 2. 3752 European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 07, Issue 10 , 2020 Table- 1: Comparison of intelligence based on RSPMT score and laterality markers Laterality Score markers Side Mean±sd p Right 32.53±15.35 Handedness 0.029* (S) Left 35.28±15.58 Right 31.97±15.31 Footedness 0.001* (S) Left 36.12±15.48 Right 32.26±15.1 Eyedness 0.003* (S) Left 35.98±15.6 Clockwise 33.16±16.3 0.422 Hair whorl Anti clockwise 34.27±15.14 (NS) S= significant, NS= Non significant The RSPMT scores of left handed, left footed and left eyed individuals were found to be significantly (p<0.05 at 95% of CI) higher than that of their right handed counterparts. In terms of hair whorl direction the scores were not different significantly (table 1) Table- 2: Comparison of intelligence based on RSPMT score, age and laterality markers Laterality
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