Handedness in the human fetus

The developmental origins of behavioral asymmetries, in particular handedness, have aroused considerable interest and debate. Until now such behavioural have only been reported after birth. Here we report the existence of handedness before birth, expressed in terms of thumb-sucking by the fetus. Ultrasound observations of fetuses from 15 weeks to term revealed a marked bias for sucking the thumb of the right hand. This preference appears to be maintained throughout pregnancy, is unrelated to fetal position in utero but correlates with head position preference in the supine newborn. The findings indicate that handednes is present prior to birth and the implications of this for the development of laterality are discussed.