Is lateral bias anomalous in early-onset schizophrenia? Selected comparisons with normal populations.
The aim of this study was to investigate lateral bias in patients with early-onset schizophrenia. Hand, eye, and foot preferences and relative hand skill were examined in early-onset patients (n=44) and matched controls (n=39), and were compared with population estimates. Patients demonstrated a significant excess in mixed handedness (20.5% vs. 8.5%) relative to population estimates and reduced relative hand skill on a pegboard task compared with controls. Left eye preference was significantly less common in schizophrenic patients relative to population estimates. Crossed eye-hand and eye-foot preferences were not significantly increased in the patient group as a whole but were present, respectively, in four of nine and five of nine mixed-handed patients but in none of five mixed-handed controls. These findings are consistent with the view that lateralisation is anomalous in schizophrenia early in the course of illness.
Collinson
Simon L
SL
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. scollinson@mhri.edu.au
Phillips
Tania Jane
TJ
James
Anthony C D
AC
Quested
Digby J
DJ
Crow
Timothy J
TJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology