Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Laterality, 20 (1), 2015, © Informa Plc
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Laterality of foetal self-touch in relation to maternal stress
AU - Reissland, Nadja
AU - Aydin, Ezra
AU - Francis, Brian
AU - Exley, Kendra
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Laterality, 20 (1), 2015, © Informa Plc
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This longitudinal observational study investigated whether foetuses change their hand preference with gestational age, and also examined the effects of maternal stress on lateralized foetal self-touch. Following ethical approval, fifteen healthy foetuses (eight girls and seven boys) were scanned four times from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. Self-touch behaviours which resulted in a touch of the foetal face/head were coded in 60 scans for 10 min and analysed in terms of frequency of the foetuses using left and right hands to touch their face. The joint effects of foetal age, stress and sex on laterality were assessed. We modelled the proportion of right self-touches for each foetal scan using a generalized linear mixed model, taking account of the repeated measures design. There was substantial variability in hand preference between foetuses. However, there was no significant increase in the proportion of right-handed touches with foetal age. No sex differences in handedness were identified. However, maternally reported stress level was significantly positively related to foetal left-handed self-touches (odds ratio 0.915; p
AB - This longitudinal observational study investigated whether foetuses change their hand preference with gestational age, and also examined the effects of maternal stress on lateralized foetal self-touch. Following ethical approval, fifteen healthy foetuses (eight girls and seven boys) were scanned four times from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. Self-touch behaviours which resulted in a touch of the foetal face/head were coded in 60 scans for 10 min and analysed in terms of frequency of the foetuses using left and right hands to touch their face. The joint effects of foetal age, stress and sex on laterality were assessed. We modelled the proportion of right self-touches for each foetal scan using a generalized linear mixed model, taking account of the repeated measures design. There was substantial variability in hand preference between foetuses. However, there was no significant increase in the proportion of right-handed touches with foetal age. No sex differences in handedness were identified. However, maternally reported stress level was significantly positively related to foetal left-handed self-touches (odds ratio 0.915; p
KW - Foetus
KW - Self-touch
KW - Laterality
KW - Handedness
KW - Maternal stress
KW - Foetal age
U2 - 10.1080/1357650X.2014.920339
DO - 10.1080/1357650X.2014.920339
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24889397
VL - 20
SP - 82
EP - 94
JO - Laterality
JF - Laterality
SN - 1357-650X
IS - 1
ER -