Abstract
Data from two twin studies were used to address two related questions. First, is there any association between handedness and specific speech and language impairment (SSLI) in children? Second, is there genetic influence on individual differences in handedness and, if so, are the same genes implicated in the cause of SSLI? The first study used data from 58 MZ and 26 DZ pairs previously recruited for an investigation into the genetic origins of SSLI. All pairs contained at least one child with SSLI. Handedness was assessed using a preference inventory and a tapping task from which a laterality quotient (LQ) was derived. There were no handedness differences between these twins and 172 singleborn controls, and neither measure revealed any association between handedness and SSLI. The data were equally well-fitted by a CE model (no genetic influence) and an AE model (no effect of shared environment) for both hand preference and tapping LQ. Nonshared environment was the largest influence on handedness for both measures. Bivariate analysis indicated no overlapping genetic influences on SSLI and handedness. In the second study, handedness was assessed in a general population sample of 48 MZ and 44 DZ twin pairs, aged 7 to 13 years, using a preference inventory and a peg-moving task. A subset of children was also given a test that assessed persistence of hand preference when reaching across the midline. The latter was the only measure to relate to children's language status, with language-impaired children showing less midline crossing. This appears to reflect neurodevelopmental immaturity, rather than a stable trait. To investigate familial transmission of handedness, inventory data for parents and their twins were combined for both samples. The most parsimonious model was one that accounted for parent-child resemblance solely in terms of cultural transmission. Overall, there was no evidence that genes play a role in determining stable individual differences in hand preference. Insofar as there are links between handedness and speech and language difficulties, these reflect delayed neuromotor maturation.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-3rd ed., revised (DSM-IIIR). APA: Washington, DC.
Annett, M. (1985). Left, right, hand and brain: The right shift theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Annett, M., and Kilshaw, D. (1984). Lateral preference and skill in dyslexics: Implications of the right shift theory. J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. 25: 357–377.
Anthony, A., Bogle, D., Ingram, T. T. S., and McIsaac, M. W. (1971). The Edinburgh Articulation Test. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1989). Test for Reception of Grammar (2nd ed.). Age and Cognitive Performance Research Centre, University of Manchester, M13 9PL: Author.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1990a). Handedness and developmental disorder. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific, and Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1990b). Handedness, clumsiness and developmental language disorders. Neuropsychologia 28: 681–690.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1990c). On the futility of using familial sinistrality to subclassify handedness groups. Cortex 26: 153–155.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1994). Is specific language impairment a valid diagnostic category? Genetic and psycholinguistic evidence. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. series B. 346: 105–111.
Bishop, D. V. M. (2001). Genetic influences on language impairment and literacy problems in children: Same or different? J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. 42: 189–198.
Bishop, D. V. M., Bishop, S. J., Bright, P., James, C., Delaney, T., and Tallal, P. (1999). Different origin of auditory and phonological processing problems in children with language impairment: Evidence from a twin study. J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 42: 155–168.
Bishop, D. V. M., and Edmundson, A. (1987). Specific language impairment as a maturational lag: Evidence from longitudinal data on language and motor development. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 29: 442–459.
Bishop, D. V. M., North, T., and Donlan, C. (1995). Genetic basis of specific language impairment: Evidence from a twin study. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 37: 56–71.
Bishop, D. V. M., Ross, V., Daniels, M. S., and Bright, P. (1996). The measurement of hand preference: A validation study comparing three groups of right-handers. Br. J. Psychol. 87: 269–285.
Carlier, M., Spitz, E., Vacher-Lavenu, M. C., Villeger, P., Martin, B., and Michel, F. (1996). Manual performance and laterality in twins of known chorion type. Behav. Genet. 26: 409–417.
Defries, J. C., and Fulker, D. W. (1985). Multiple regression analysis of twin data. Behav. Genet. 15: 467–473.
Eglington, E., and Annett, M. (1994). Handedness and dyslexia: A meta-analysis. Percept. Motor Skills 79: 1611–1616.
Fisher, S. E., Vargha-Khadem, F., Watkins, K. E., Monaco, A. P., and Pembrey, M. E. (1998). Localisation of a gene implicated in a severe speech and language disorder. Nature Genetics 18: 168–170.
Hill, E. L., and Bishop, D. V. M. (1998). A reaching test reveals weak hand preference in specific language impairment and developmental coordination disorder. Laterality 3: 295–301.
Klar, A. J. S. (1996). A single locus, RGHT, specifies preference for hand utilization in humans. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 61: 59–65.
Laland, K. N., Kumm, J., Van Horn, J. D., and Feldman, M. W. (1995). A gene-culture model of human handedness. Behav. Genet. 25: 433–445.
Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., and Tellegen, A. (1987). Recruitment bias in twin research: The rule of two-thirds reconsidered. Behav. Genet. 17: 343–362.
McKenna, P., and Warrington, E. K. (1983). Graded Naming Test (GNT). Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
McManus, I. C. (1980). Handedness in twins: A critical review. Neuropsychologia. 18: 374–355.
McManus, I. C. (1985). Handedness, language dominance and aphasia: A genetic model. Psychol. Med. Monograph Supplement 8.
McManus, I. C., and Bryden, M. P. (1993). The neurobiology of handedness, language and cerebral dominance: A model for the molecular genetics of behaviour. In M. H. Johnson (ed.), Brain development and cognition: A reader, Oxford: Blackwells, pp. 679–702.
Neale, M. C. (1988). Handedness in a sample of volunteer twins. Behav. Genet. 18: 69–79.
Neale, M. C., and Cardon, L. R. (1992). Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Neale, M. C., Boker, S. M., Xie, G., and Maes, H. H. (1999). Mx: Statistical Modeling (5th ed.). Richmond, VA: Department of Psychiatry.
Neale, M. C., Walters, E. E., Eaves, L. J., Maes, H. H., and Kendler, K. S. (1994). Multivariate genetic analysis of twin-family data on fears: Mx models. Behav. Genet. 24: 119–139.
Nichols, R. C., and Bilbro, W. C. (1966). The diagnosis of twin zygosity. Acta. Genet. Med. Gemellologiae 16: 265–275.
Oldfield, R. C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory. Br. J. Psychol. 66: 53–59.
Orlebeke, J. F., Knol, D. L., Koopmans, J. R., Boomsma, D. I., and Bleker, O. P. (1996). Left-handedness in twins: Genes or environment. Cortex 32: 479–490.
Palmer, R. E., and Corballis, M. C. (1996). Predicting reading ability from handedness measures. Br J Psychol. 87: 609–620.
Peters, M. (1992). How sensitive are handedness prevalence figures to differences in questionnaire classification procedures? Brain Cog. 18: 208–215.
Powls, A., Botting, N., Cooke, R. W. I., and Marlow, N. (1996). Handedness in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children at 12 years of age: Relation to perinatal and outcome variables. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 38: 594–602.
Provins, K. A. (1997). Handedness and speech: A critical reappraisal of the role of genetic and environmental factors in the cerebral lateralization of function. Psych. Rev. 104: 554–571.
Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., and Raven, J. (1986). Raven' Progressive Matrices and Raven' Coloured Matrices. London: Lewis.
Renfrew, C. (1980). Word-finding vocabulary scale. Oxford: Author.
Risch, N., and Pringle, G. (1985). Segregation analysis of human hand preference. Behav. Genet. 15: 385–400.
Robinson, R. J. (1991). Causes and associations of severe and persistent specific speech and language disorders in children. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 33: 943–962.
Semel, E. M., Wiig, E. H., and Secord, W. (1987). Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
Stromswold, K. (1998). Genetics of spoken language disorders. Hum. Biol. 70: 293–320.
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E., and O'Brien, M. (1997). Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 40: 1245–1260.
Wechsler, D. (1992). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third UK edition. London: Psychological Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bishop, D.V.M. Individual Differences in Handedness and Specific Speech and Language Impairment: Evidence Against a Genetic Link. Behav Genet 31, 339–351 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012239617367
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012239617367