The development of hand, foot, trunk, hearing, and visual lateral preference throughout the lifespan.

This research investigated the developmental process of five lateral preference dimensions (hand, foot, trunk, hearing, and visual preference). A total of 1236 volunteers participated in this study, divided into five age groups: 07-12 (n = 247); 13-17 (n = 234); 18-30 (n = 227); 31-60 (n = 225); and 61-90 years old (n = 303). Lateral preference was assessed via questionnaire with the Global Lateral Preference Inventory. By assessing the degree and direction of lateral preference in different ages, our results revealed a pattern of lateralization strengthening with aging in all the analyzed dimensions. We also verified significant correlation between hand preference and the other dimensions for all age groups, but correlation was stronger in the 7-12 group for all correlation pairs. Our results lead to the suggestion of an underlying general lateralization process in early ages (7-12 years old) followed by specific developmental trajectories of each preference dimension (13 years forward), likely startled by hemisphere and functional specialization related to innate developmental patterns of neural structures and social/environmental influences.