Sensorimotor laterality in schizophrenia: which features transcend cultural influences?

A battery of performance tests was conducted to compare motor laterality and eye dominance in Nigerian schizophrenics and normal controls. Both groups were similar in age and sex distribution. While no difference emerged with regard to right, mixed, or left handedness, or foot or eye dominance, cross-dominance (i.e. full left eye dominance and full right handedness) significantly differentiated the 2 groups. The same feature differentiated paranoid from nonparanoid subtypes of schizophrenia. Cross-dominance may represent a more reliable measure of sensorimotor lateralization in schizophrenia since it may be less likely that it is masked by cultural factors.