The Contribution of Postural Bias to Lateral Preferences for Holding Human Infants

• Published in: Brain and cognition Vol. 48; no. 2-3; pp. 352 - 356
• Main Authors: ERBER, Nicholaus Lee, ALMERIGI, Jason B, CARBARY, Timothy J, HARRIS, Lauren Julius
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01-03-2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiology; Choice Behavior; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Posture; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance; Surveys and Questionnaires; Human; Footedness; Hemisphere dominance; Central nervous system; Cognition; Laterality; Equilibrium; Brain (vertebrata); Posture
• ISSN: 0278-2626; 1090-2147
• DOI: 10.1006/brcg.2001.1376

When asked to hold an infant, 60-85% of adults hold on their left, so that the infant's head is to the left of their midline (Brüser, 1981; de Chateau, 1983; Saling & Tyson, 1981). The same group bias has been found even when persons are merely asked to imagine holding an infant (Nakamichi & Takeda, 1995; Harris, Almerigi, & Kirsch, 2000). A number of variables have been found to contribute modestly to the bias, including the sex and handedness of the holder. In the current study, the role of a new variable is investigated, namely, the feeling of comfort for holding an infant on a particular side as indexed by one's foot preference for acts of stabilizing or postural support. To test this hypothesis, 282 right-handed college students (218 women, 64 men) were given the imagine-hold task along with 4 questions about their foot preference for posture and balance. The results showed that, at least for women, the two measures were modestly but significantly related.