Characteristics of Fingerprints According to Type of Handedness

Cho, Keun Ja; Kim, Soo Il

Abstract

Left handedness is known to be related with inheritance and is different from right handedness in brain development and various aspects of perceptive and cognitive performance. Fingerprints are also related with inheritance and do not change for the whole life. In addition, individuals have different fingerprints. The aim of the present study was to identify genetic correlation between fingerprints and handedness by examining how different fingerprints are between left handers and right handers. The study group to imprint fingerprints was composed of 55 left handers and 144 right handers of 1063 college students. The reliability of handedness assessment tool was Cronbach's alpha=0.948. The imprinted fingerprints were classified by fingerprint type (arch, radial loop, ulnar loop, whorl). Finger ridges and triradii in fingerprints were also counted. We performed frequency analysis, reliability analysis, cross-tabs analysis, chi-square test, independent t-test, paired t-test by SPSS win 15.0 for the data. The left handed males and females exhibited more arch types than the right handers and less whorl types than the right handers. The left handers in both hands exhibited more arch and ulnar loop types than the right handers and less whorl and radial loop types than the right handers. In the left hand, the 3rd (p<0.05), 4th (p<0.05), and 5th (p<0.01) fingerprints of the left handers were different from those of the right handers. The finger ridge counts of left handers were significantly less than those of the right handers in the 2nd and 3rd fingers of the left hand, and in the 3rd and 4th fingers in the right hand. The triradii counts of left handers were significantly less than those of right handers (p<0.05) in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th finger of the left and right hand. Total triradii counts of left handers were also significantly less than those of right handers (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that fingerprint type, finger ridge and triradius counts of the left handers are different from those of the right handers, and fingerprints may reflect genetic tendency for handedness.