Abstract
Nondirectional asymmetry of paired morphological structures may reflect a decrease in developmental buffering, thereby increasing susceptibility to developmental noise. The palmara-b ridge count, measuring the size of the second interdigital area of the hand, yields a convenient and promising index of developmental canalization in normal adults. We constrasted 28 monozygotic twin pairs in which one or both members exhibiteda-b ridge-count asymmetry, with 32 paris exhibiting little or no left-right asymmetry. The asymmetric paris were significantly less similar for many Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scales, and total variances of these scales tended to be greater among individual twins with extreme left-right asymmetries. The results suggest that an asymmetrica-b ridge count may identify individuals who are poorly buffered from developmental noise. But the asymmetry may arise from the twinning process itself, and our buffering hypothesis remains to be tested in twins of known placental type and in longitudinal instability of asymmetric nontwins.
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Rose, R.J., Reed, T. & Bogle, A. Asymmetry ofa-b ridge count and behavioral discordance of monozygotic twins. Behav Genet 17, 125–140 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065992
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065992