ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the development of handedness during infancy with the intention of identifying whether experiential factors contributed toward the predominance of right-handedness in all human populations. According to M. Annett, the first aspect of handedness reflects random events, whereas the second reflects the operation of a gene. Annett's single allele model for this right shift closely matched the genealogical data on the distribution of handedness among generations. The chapter identifies behavioral patterns in newborn infants that would promote both a bias in an individual's experience and a bias in the distribution of these behavioral patterns. It also investigates how the development of handedness could contribute to the development of other forms of hemispheric specialization of function. The chapter argues that pursuing the relation of the development of handedness to the development of other forms of hemispheric specialization of functions had to await a solid understanding of the development of handedness.
