title: Is lateral bias anomalous in early-onset schizophrenia? Selected comparisons with normal populations.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. scollinson@mhri.edu.au
authors.forename: Simon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Collinson
authors.forename: Tania Jane
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Anthony C D
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Digby J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Quested
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Crow
mesh_terms: 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