Researchers in Oxford are looking for volunteers for a project to learn if there is a genetic basis for left-handedness - and whether it affects intelligence and personality. Health reporter KAREN ROSINE found out more...

The big question puzzling scientists right now is simple but potentially controversial: why are girls doing so much better at school than boys? Is it because they naturally more intelligent, or is there some other factor influencing the phenomenon?

Researchers at Oxford University's psychiatric department, based at the Warneford Hospital, are hoping a new study can help find the answer.

But to do so they need to study about 200 families - in complete confidentiality - as part of a two-year project.

The families should have two children, a mother and preferably a father.

Members can be either right or left-handed. Research psychiatrist Dr Tim Crow and research nurse Judith Rue are working on the basis that there is a gene which determines hand preference.

Their studies have already identified the existence of the gene and now they are looking at isolating it and studying its effects.

They believe the gene should be found on one of the sex chromosomes, helping to explain why hand preference is different in males and females.

This could, in turn, explain vital differences between the intelligence of boys and girls.

In total about 800 people are being sought for the project, which is funded by mental health charity Sane and the Medical Research Council.

Mrs Rue said: "We have already started dealing with families and have completed some of them.

"We ask volunteers to give an hour and a half of their time to do various tests. Then, when we have the information, we put it in the computer to be analysed. Everyone is given a code number and it is all completely confidential." So far the study has identified about 20 suitable families but the researchers need many more. Some will be local but others may live further afield. Volunteers have to complete various hand/eye co-ordination tests, such as the peg board - which involves speedily moving pegs vertically down a board from one hole to another.

They are asked to complete some simple word tests, draw up a family tree and match up patterns in a pattern book. There is also a questionnaire to be filled in, identifying which hand they do different things with and which hand, if any, they favour.

A personality questionnaire looks at where volunteers were born, children, occupation, schooling, pregnancies, illnesses, their childhood, beliefs and disbeliefs.

Finally, volunteers are asked to give a small quantity of blood to be analysed for DNA.

This is tested for genes which are inherited in common with those of their brothers or sisters, and may be responsible for determining whether they are right or left-handed.

Dr Crow explained the logic of the research. One side of the brain is more dominant than the other and is used to develop language. This relates to which hand you use. Most of us favour the left hemisphere of the brain and are therefore right-handed. He added: "It is fairly well proven that handedness is genetic. If your parents are both right-handed then you would most likely be. But if one of them is left-handed, the likelihood that you are going to be rises, and if both are left-handed it is at least 40 per cent likely you would be."

Dr Crow explained assessments on 11-year-olds showed girls did better than boys on verbal tests.

The results did not show being left or right-handed means you are naturally more intelligent. But they did show ambidextrous pupils were slower to develop verbally.

Those who strongly favoured one hand over the other fared worse in verbal tests.

Dr Crow said: "The big question is, why do girls develop language faster than boys?

"We are seeing if a particular sex is more likely to be ambidextrous and therefore have trouble learning.

"Boys have been shown to be more likely to be left-handed. It is also true that boys seem to be more likely to be ambidextrous - which is relevant to their reading abilities.

"Everyone has two variants of the gene - we suppose they work slightly differently in the two sexes."

*Anyone interested in taking part in the project should contact Mrs Rue on 01865 226290 or Dr Crow on 01865 226474.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.