Footedness across the age span among Brazilian right- and left-handers.
Previous cross-sectional surveys have reported a decreasing prevalence of left-footedness with increasing age. Bell and Gabbard attributed this pattern to a developmental process wherein the right hemisphere ages earlier than the left, leading to a decline in left-footedness among older individuals. A major flaw in this hypothesis is that age-related data were derived exclusively from right-handed samples. To test the generality of the hypothesis we obtained foot preferences from 1462 right and 172 left-handed Brazilians ranging from 10 to 94 years of age. In only one of the three analyses did dextrals show the predicted age-related decline. Together with accelerating trends towards left-footedness among older males and nonlinear trends among left-handers as a group, these results do not sustain the basic assumptions implicit in the right hemisphere aging hypothesis.
Martin
William Lee Berdel
WL
Department de Psicologia Experimental, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil. wlbm@cpgp.ufpa.br
Machado
Angélica Homobono
AH
Paixão
Carlos Benedito
CB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012916:Soccer