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A quick
look at the lengths of children’s index and ring fingers
can be used to predict how well students will perform on
Scholastic Asessment Tests (SATs), new research claims.
Kids
with longer ring fingers compared to index fingers are
likely to have higher math scores than literacy or
verbal scores on the college entrance exam, while
children with the reverse finger-length ratio are likely
to have higher reading and writing, or verbal, scores
versus math scores.
Scientists have known that different levels of the
hormones testosterone and estrogen in the womb account
for the different finger lengths, which are a reflection
of areas of the brain that are more highly developed
than others, said psychologist Mark Brosnan of the
University of Bath, who led the study.
Exposure
to testosterone in the womb is said to promote
development of areas of the brain often associated with
spatial and mathematical skills, he said. That hormone
makes the ring finger longer. Estrogen exposure does the
same for areas of the brain associated with verbal
ability and tends to lengthen the index finger relative
to the ring finger.
To test
the link to children’s scores on the College Board’s
Scholastic Assessment Test (for which the name has
changed a number of times in the past 100 years),
Brosnan and his colleagues made photocopies of
children’s palms and measured the length of their index
and ring fingers using calipers accurate to 0.01
millimeters. They used the finger-length ratios as a proxy for the
levels of testosterone and estrogen exposure.
The
researchers then looked at boys’ and girls’ test
performances separately and compared them to
finger-length ratio measurements. They found a clear
link between high prenatal testosterone exposure,
indicated by the longer index finger compared to the
ring finger, and higher scores on the math SAT.
Similarly, they found higher literacy SAT scores for the
girls among those who had lower prenatal testosterone
exposure, as indicated by a shorter ring finger compared
with the index finger.
The
researchers also compared the finger-lengths ratios to
all the children’s SAT scores and found that a
relatively longer ring finger—indicating greater
prenatal exposure to testosterone—meant a wider gap in
scores for math versus literacy (writing and critical
reading).
“Finger
ratio provides us with an interesting insight into our
innate abilities in key cognitive areas,” Brosnan said,
in a prepared statement. The results will be detailed in
an upcoming issue of the British Journal of Psychology.
In the
future, his team will see if finger-length ratios are
related to other cognitive and behavioral issues, such
as technophobia, career paths and possibly dyslexia.
--LiveScience.com |
