ABSTRACT

Open data initiatives such as the UK Biobank and Human Connectome Project provide researchers with access to neuroimaging, genetic, and other data for large samples of left-and right-handed participants, allowing for more robust investigations of handedness than ever before. Handedness inventories are universal tools for assessing participant handedness in these large-scale neuroimaging contexts. These self-report measures are typically used to screen and recruit subjects, but they are also widely used as variables in statistical analyses of fMRI and other data. Recent investigations into the validity of handedness inventories, however, suggest that self-report data from these inventories might not reflect hand preference/performance as faithfully as previously thought. Using data from the Human Connectome Project, we assessed correspondence between three handedness measures – the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI), the Rolyan 9-hole pegboard, and grip strength – in 1179 healthy subjects. We show poor association between the different handedness measures, with roughly 10% of the sample having at least one behavioural measure which indicates hand-performance bias opposite to the EHI score, and over 65% of left-handers having one or more mismatched handedness scores. We discuss implications for future work, urging researchers to critically consider direction, degree, and consistency of handedness in their data.

摘要

英国生物银行和人类连接组项目等开放数据计划为研究人员提供了获取大量左撇子和右撇子参与者样本的神经影像学、遗传学和其他数据的途径，从而可以对惯用右手进行比以往任何时候都更可靠的调查。惯用手清单是在这些大规模神经影像环境中评估参与者惯用手的通用工具。这些自我报告措施通常用于筛选和招募受试者，但它们也被广泛用作 fMRI 和其他数据统计分析中的变量。然而，最近对利手清单有效性的调查表明，来自这些清单的自我报告数据可能不会像以前认为的那样忠实地反映手的偏好/表现。使用来自人类连接组计划的数据，我们在 1179 名健康受试者中评估了三种惯用手测量之间的对应关系——爱丁堡惯用手量表 (EHI)、Rolyan 9 孔钉板和握力。我们显示不同的惯用手测量之间的关联性较差，大约 10% 的样本具有至少一种表明手部性能偏差的行为测量与EHI 分数相反，超过 65% 的左撇子有一个或多个不匹配的利手分数。我们讨论了对未来工作的影响，敦促研究人员批判性地考虑数据中惯用手的方向、程度和一致性。