FOOTEDNESS IS A BETTER PREDICTOR THAN IS HANDEDNESS OF EMOTIONAL LATERALIZATION

A tremendous amount of experimental work has attempted to identify rel iable behavioural predictors of cerebral lateralization. Preferred han dedness has been the most popular predictor, but some recent reports s uggest that preferred footedness may serve as a more accurate predicto r of functional laterality, especially in the left-handed population. The present study sought to test this claim by selectively recruiting individuals with either 'crossed' lateral preferences (right-handed an d left-footed or left-handed and right-footed) or 'uncrossed' lateral preferences (right-handed and right-footed or left-handed and left-foo ted). Lateralization of emotional perception was assessed with two blo cks of the dichotic Emotional Words Test (EWT), and lateral preference for both handedness and footedness was assessed using self-report que stionnaires. Ear advantage on the dichotic task varied significantly w ith preferred foot (P=0.003), but not with preferred hand. Cerebral la teralization may be more related to footedness than to other lateral p references. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.