Men, get out your tape measure!
Mar 17, 2009 14:04:18 GMT
Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2009 14:04:18 GMT
Finger Length Predicts Speed, Aggression, Smarts, Motivation
By Robert Roy Britt, Editorial Director, Live Science
Boys with ring fingers longer than their index fingers run faster, a new study finds.
Finger-length ratios have been related to a host of things good and bad, from fertility and disease vulnerability to test scores and personality traits. In fact, you'll need the digits on both hands, regardless of their length, to count all the correlations that have been made.
Researchers say exposure to testosterone in the womb is behind the speedy kids and their finger-length ratios. The scientists studied 241 boys aged 10 to 17 at a talent-spotting competition in Qatar. Those with longer ring fingers were faster at every stage of a 50-meter sprint race, according to an article in The Telegraph.
"The advantage they had was soon apparent after the start of the sprint and remained steady thereafter," said John Manning, a researcher at Southampton University who led the study.
Previous research has shown:
By Robert Roy Britt, Editorial Director, Live Science
Boys with ring fingers longer than their index fingers run faster, a new study finds.
Finger-length ratios have been related to a host of things good and bad, from fertility and disease vulnerability to test scores and personality traits. In fact, you'll need the digits on both hands, regardless of their length, to count all the correlations that have been made.
Researchers say exposure to testosterone in the womb is behind the speedy kids and their finger-length ratios. The scientists studied 241 boys aged 10 to 17 at a talent-spotting competition in Qatar. Those with longer ring fingers were faster at every stage of a 50-meter sprint race, according to an article in The Telegraph.
"The advantage they had was soon apparent after the start of the sprint and remained steady thereafter," said John Manning, a researcher at Southampton University who led the study.
Previous research has shown:
- Finger length can predict the likelihood of aggression in men (but not women).
- Kids with longer ring fingers are likely to have higher SAT math scores than literacy or verbal scores, while children whose index fingers are longer are more likely to do better at reading and writing, or verbal, rather than the math tests.
- A 2006 study in the journal BMJ linked a certain finger ratio to women's athletic prowess and also linked the differences to hormones in the womb.
- People whose ring finger is longer than their index finger are at higher risk of osteoarthritis, according to a study last year in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
