Nicholls Michael E R, Orr Catherine A, Yates Mark J, Loftus Andrea M
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Laterality. 2008 Jan;13(1):71-91. doi: 10.1080/13576500701751287.
Relative finger length can predict a person's gender or their hand preference. We measured finger length using a new "tubes" test, which required participants to slide a clear plastic tube over their fingers and read the length from an attached mm scale. Data collected from 600 students demonstrated that the right fingers are longer than the left for dextrals, but not for non-dextrals. Examination of the relative length of the index and ring fingers revealed a clear gender effect. There was also an effect of hand preference on index/ring finger ratio whereby non-dextrals showed a more masculine pattern compared to dextrals. For non-dextrals, prenatal exposure to high testosterone levels may have caused both a shift away from dextrality and a more masculine pattern of finger ratio. In the second experiment, finger length was measured by the tubes test and by photocopying the hands in 124 undergraduates. The tubes test yielded a longer estimate of ring finger length compared to the photocopy method. Despite this, there was a strong correlation between the tests and both showed an association with gender. Finally, test-retest scores for 45 participants showed a high level of reliability for absolute and relative finger measures. We conclude that the tubes technique provides an effective and easy-to-use means of measuring finger length, which can be administered in a classroom setting.
手指相对长度能够预测一个人的性别或其用手偏好。我们使用一种新的“管子”测试来测量手指长度，该测试要求参与者将一根透明塑料管套在手指上，并从附带的毫米刻度上读取长度。从600名学生收集的数据表明，右利手者右手手指比左手手指长，但非右利手者并非如此。对食指和无名指相对长度的检查揭示了明显的性别效应。用手偏好对食指/无名指比例也有影响，与右利手者相比，非右利手者呈现出更具男性化的模式。对于非右利手者来说，产前暴露于高睾酮水平可能既导致了偏离右利手，又导致了更具男性化的手指比例模式。在第二个实验中，通过“管子”测试和影印124名本科生的手来测量手指长度。与影印方法相比，“管子”测试得出的无名指长度估计值更长。尽管如此，两种测试之间存在很强的相关性，并且都显示出与性别的关联。最后，45名参与者的重测分数表明绝对和相对手指测量具有高度可靠性。我们得出结论，“管子”技术提供了一种有效且易于使用的测量手指长度的方法，可在课堂环境中进行。
