Mead L A, Hampson E
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Behav Brain Res. 1996 Aug;78(2):73-9. doi: 10.1016/0166-4328(95)00233-2.
A large body of literature has documented the existence of individual preferences in turning direction among rodents which appear to be dependent on striatal dopaminergic mechanisms. Recent work has indicated that humans also demonstrate individual turning preferences, and that these preferences may also be related to the nigrostriatal dopamine system. We describe here a new method for measuring turning preferences in humans and report a sex difference in the magnitude of the directional preference. While both males and females tended to turn towards the right, this tendency was significantly stronger among females. Analyses of test-retest reliability across two sessions (1-2 weeks apart) indicated that, in general, the rotation task elicited consistent turning biases. However, the turning biases of males and of females using oral contraceptives were significantly more consistent than those of regularly cycling females. These results are compatible with the animal literature and provide indirect evidence that ovarian hormones may modulate the mechanism(s) underlying this motor asymmetry.
大量文献记载了啮齿动物在转向方向上存在个体偏好，这似乎依赖于纹状体多巴胺能机制。最近的研究表明，人类也表现出个体转向偏好，并且这些偏好可能也与黑质纹状体多巴胺系统有关。我们在此描述一种测量人类转向偏好的新方法，并报告了方向偏好程度上的性别差异。虽然男性和女性都倾向于向右转，但这种倾向在女性中明显更强。对两个时间段（相隔1 - 2周）的重测信度分析表明，总体而言，旋转任务引发了一致的转向偏差。然而，使用口服避孕药的女性和男性的转向偏差比正常月经周期的女性更一致。这些结果与动物文献相符，并提供了间接证据表明卵巢激素可能调节这种运动不对称背后的机制。
