Get a grip: variation in human hand grip strength and implications for human evolution

Bardo, A., Kivell, T.L., Town, K., Ballieux, H., Donati, G., Stamate, C., Edginton, T. and Forrester, G.S. 2021. Get a grip: variation in human hand grip strength and implications for human evolution. Symmetry. 13 (7) 1142. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13071142

TitleGet a grip: variation in human hand grip strength and implications for human evolution
TypeJournal article
AuthorsBardo, A., Kivell, T.L., Town, K., Ballieux, H., Donati, G., Stamate, C., Edginton, T. and Forrester, G.S.
Abstract

Although hand grip strength is critical to the daily lives of humans and our arboreal great ape relatives, the human hand has changed in form and function throughout our evolution due to ter-restrial bipedalism, tool use, and directional asymmetry (DA) such as handedness. Here we in-vestigate how hand form and function interact in modern humans to gain insight into our evolu-tionary past. We measured grip strength in a heterogeneous, cross-sectional sample of human participants (n=662, 17 to 83 years old), to test the potential effects of age, sex, asymmetry (hand dominance and handedness), hand shape, occupation, and practice of sports and musical instru-ments that involve the hand(s). We found a significant effect of sex and hand dominance on grip strength, but not of handedness, while hand shape and age had a greater influence on female grip strength. Females were significantly weaker with age, but grip strength in females with large hands was less affected than those with long hands. Frequent engagement in hand sports signifi-cantly increased grip strength in the non-dominant hand in both sexes, while only males showed a significant effect of occupation, indicating different patterns of hand dominance asymmetries and hand function. These results improve our understanding of the link between form and func-tion in both hands and offer insight into the evolution of human laterality and dexterity.

Keywordspower grip strength
directional asymmetry
hand dominance
hand shape
manual activities
human evolution
functional morphology
Article number1142
JournalSymmetry
Journal citation13 (7)
ISSN2073-8994
Year2021
PublisherMDPI
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13071142
Publication dates
Published online26 Jun 2021

Related outputs

Motor sensory biases are associated with cognitive and social abilities in humans
Donati, G., Edginton, T.L., Bardo, A., Kivell, T.L., Ballieux, H., Stamate, C. and Forrester, G.S. 2024. Motor sensory biases are associated with cognitive and social abilities in humans. Scientific Reports. 14 (1) 14724. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-64372-2

Nurturing Compassion in Education: Unveiling the Neuroscience of Empathy and Compassion
Ballieux, H. 2024. Nurturing Compassion in Education: Unveiling the Neuroscience of Empathy and Compassion. in: Waddington, K. and Bonaparte, B. (ed.) Developing and supporting pedagogies of compassion in higher education: A practice first approach Springer. pp. 101-113

The Precision of the Human Hand: Variability in Pinch Strength and Manual Dexterity
Bardo, A., Town, Katie, Kivell, Tracy L., Donati, Georgina, Ballieux, H., Stamate, C., Edginton, T. and Forrester, Gillian S. 2022. The Precision of the Human Hand: Variability in Pinch Strength and Manual Dexterity. Symmetry. 14 (1) e71. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym14010071

The Effect of Bilingualism on Executive Functioning Found in Young Adults: an eye-tracking study
Pshonkovskaya, Polina and Ballieux, Haiko 2021. The Effect of Bilingualism on Executive Functioning Found in Young Adults: an eye-tracking study. New Psychological Research. 1 (4), pp. 47-70. https://doi.org/10.51217/npsyresearch_2021_01_04_03

Efficiency of scanning and attention to faces in infancy independently predict language development in a multiethnic and bilingual sample of 2-year-olds
Lopez Perez, D., Tomalski, P., Radkowska, A., Ballieux, H., Moore, D.G., Kushnerenko, E., Birtles, D., Johnson, M.H. and Karmiloff-Smith, A. 2021. Efficiency of scanning and attention to faces in infancy independently predict language development in a multiethnic and bilingual sample of 2-year-olds. First Language. 41 (2), pp. 218-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723720966815

Beyond fixation durations: Recurrence quantification analysis reveals spatiotemporal dynamics of infant visual scanning
Lopez Perez, D., Radkowska, A., Raczaszek-Leonardi, J., Tomalski, P., Ballieux, H., Kushnerenko, E., Johnson, M.H., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Birtles, D. and Moore, D.G. 2018. Beyond fixation durations: Recurrence quantification analysis reveals spatiotemporal dynamics of infant visual scanning. Journal of Vision. 18 (13), pp. 1-17 5. https://doi.org/10.1167/18.13.5

Separating the effects of ethnicity and socio-economic status on sleep practices of 6- to 7-month-old infants
Tomalski, P., Moore, D.G., Ballieux, H., Kushnerenko, E., Johnson, M.H. and Karmiloff-Smith, A. 2016. Separating the effects of ethnicity and socio-economic status on sleep practices of 6- to 7-month-old infants. Learning & Individual Differences. 46, pp. 64-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.12.028

Applying gaze-contingent training within community settings to infants from diverse SES backgrounds
Ballieux, H., Wass, S., Tomalski, P., Kushnerenko, E., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Johnson, M.H. and Moore, D.G. 2016. Applying gaze-contingent training within community settings to infants from diverse SES backgrounds. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 43, pp. 8-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2015.12.005

Feasibility of undertaking off-site infant eye-tracking assessments of neuro-cognitive functioning in early-intervention centres
Ballieux, H., Haiko, Tomalski, P., Kushnerenko, E., Johnson, M.H., Karmiloff-Smith, A. and Moore, D.G. 2016. Feasibility of undertaking off-site infant eye-tracking assessments of neuro-cognitive functioning in early-intervention centres . Infant and Child Development. 25 (1), pp. 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.1914

Brain responses to audiovisual speech mismatch in infants are associated with individual differences in looking behaviour
Kushnerenko, E., Tomalski, P., Ballieux, H., Ribeiro, H., Potton, A., Axelsson, E.L., Murphy, E. and Moore, D.G. 2013. Brain responses to audiovisual speech mismatch in infants are associated with individual differences in looking behaviour. European Journal of Neuroscience. 38 (9), pp. 3363-3369. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12317

Exploring early developmental changes in face scanning patterns during the perception of audiovisual mismatch of speech cues
Tomalski, P., Ribeiro, H., Ballieux, H., Axelsson, E.L., Murphy, E., Moore, D.G. and Kushnerenko, E. 2013. Exploring early developmental changes in face scanning patterns during the perception of audiovisual mismatch of speech cues. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 10 (5), pp. 611-624. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2012.728076

Brain responses and looking behavior during audiovisual speech integration in infants predict auditory speech comprehension in the second year of life
Kushnerenko, E., Tomalski, P., Ballieux, H., Potton, A., Birtles, D., Frostick, C. and Moore, D.G. 2013. Brain responses and looking behavior during audiovisual speech integration in infants predict auditory speech comprehension in the second year of life. Frontiers in Psychology. 4 432. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00432

Water consumption, not expectancies about water consumption, affects cognitive performance in adults
Edmonds, C.J., Crombie, R., Ballieux, H., Gardner, M. and Dawkins, L. 2013. Water consumption, not expectancies about water consumption, affects cognitive performance in adults. Appetite. 60, pp. 148-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.10.016

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/v60y9/get-a-grip-variation-in-human-hand-grip-strength-and-implications-for-human-evolution


Share this

Usage statistics

129 total views
60 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.