City Research Online

Abstract

The maternal preference to hold infants on the left rather than right side of the body was examined longitudinally, with attention to four explanations: maternal monitoring of infant state, maternal handedness, infant proximity to the mother’s heartbeat, and preferred infant head position. The side and site of holding were measured over the first twelve weeks of the lives of 24 infants. Information about group and individual consistency in holding side allowed novel evaluation of the theories. A strong bias to hold on the left dropped below significance when the infants were aged twelve weeks and was limited to specific holding positions. Findings were generally consistent with the monitoring hypothesis, and little support was found for the three alternative explanations.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Laterality on 28/08/2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1357650X.2015.1059434
Publisher Keywords:	Infancy, cradling bias, infant holding, laterality, emotional processing
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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