7 replies to this topic

[doug123]

News Source: Press TV



Finger length linked to mathematical IQ
Thu, 24 May 2007 16:02:13

Pupils with longer ring fingers are more likely to excel in numeracy while those with shorter ones tend to be more adept at literacy.

Scientists believe the trends are related to the levels of testosterone and estrogen that children are exposed to in the womb. The sex hormones are believed to govern brain development as well as finger length.

Mark Brosnan, who led the study at the University of Bath, said: "Testosterone promotes development of the areas of the brain which are often associated with spatial and mathematical skills. Estrogen does the same in the areas of the brain which are often associated with verbal ability."

"Interestingly, these hormones are also thought to have a say in the relative lengths of our index and ring fingers. We can use measurements of these fingers as a way of gauging the relative exposure to these two hormones in the womb. We can also use them to predict ability in the key areas of numeracy and literacy," he added.

In the research project, which has been published in the British Journal of Psychology, scientists measured the finger lengths of 75 seven-year-old children using photocopies of their palms.

For each child, they took measurements of the index and ring fingers on their right hands. They divided the length of the index finger by the length of the ring finger to calculate each child's digit ratio.

Adult women usually have ratios of one with index and ring fingers of equal length. The average for men is lower, at 0.98, since they tend to have longer ring fingers than index fingers, suggesting a greater exposure to testosterone in the womb.

They found that children with smaller digit ratios were more likely to be better at mathematics than English.

Similarly, pupils with higher ratios - shorter ring fingers and greater exposure to estrogen - performed better in English tests than mathematics.

Longer ring fingers in boys were also strongly linked with higher scores in numeracy tests.

AB/RE

© Press TV 2007. All Rights Reserved.

This article comes from PRESS TV and the URL is: www.presstv.ir

[Athanasios]

This does not surprise me. I am guessing height would be correlated as well. Have you noticed that you can pretty much guess the personality someone has by their body type?

[Shannon Vyff]

I'd have to say I have long ring fingers, but my 10 year old is better at high level math than me! I'll check out her finger lengths when she gets home, the kids will wonder what I'm doing I don't know how this would really hold out in a large study... I certainly think its hard to guess personality by body types!

[maxwatt]

The same measure of finger-length can be used to determine gender from photographs of the hand. Women have shorter iring fingers, shorter than the index finger; men have a ring finger as long as, or longer, than the index finger.

The only use for this information may be to know if that's a transvestite or a woman trying to pick you up in that seedy bar in Greenwich village.....

[chubtoad]

I don't remember being able to do any math when I was 7. I wonder what they measured on the numeracy test, counting?

[Live Forever]

And the size of a man's foot correlates to the size of his.... oh, nevermind.

[futureofscience]

And the size of a man's foot correlates to the size of his....

Shoe ?

I've always had quite long fingers but I always thought it was because I'm a fairly adept pianist and it strengthed my fingers. But the article is quite interesting in its idea.

[Karomesis]