Science

Over the last 150 years, Western Hand Reading has been based on empirical and scientific research methods. This is a totally different style of hand reading to the palmistry of the middle ages.

Modern Hand Analysis is based on knowledge of the hands’ links to the brain, the nervous system, hormones and the science of dermatoglyphics.

There are more links between the brain and hands than any organ or other parts of the body. 30% of all the brains motor cortex function goes to the hands. Different digits and areas of the hand are associated with different lobes of the brain and cortexes.  In this way, analysis of hand gesture, posture, size, shape and structure shows insight into the brain.

Let’s start with the lines of the hand.

Lines on the Hand

All the lines on the hand are created through cerebral activity and the nervous system. If all the nerve connections to your hands were severed, the lines would disappear. Physiologically the lines on the hand develop in the womb as a result of the nervous system before any finger or thumb flexion starts. All the lines are a result of mental activity. Analysis of these individual lines shows areas such as constitutional health and psychological stability, emotional receptivity and expressiveness, mental processing and functioning abilities, self-drive, feelings of purpose and direction.

Links to the brain

The length of the fingers is connected with different areas of the brain and their development. The length of the fingers overall is an indicator of frontal lobe development, which relates to communication and language skills, amongst other things. Studies involving the index and ring finger ratio also correlate with cerebellar cortex size. Analysis of the finger length in proportion to the hand can tell you a lot about a person just on its own. When you combine this with the research into hormones it gets very interesting.

Fingers and Hormones

The digit ratio showing pre-natel hormones

The index and ring finger digit ratio, 2D:4D (2nd digit: 4th digit), shows somebody’s exposure to pre natal testosterone and oestrogen levels. This affects a multitude of areas and research has confirmed effects on personality traits, health, brain morphology, sexual attraction, body structure and physical performance levels. Dr John Manning pioneered this research, and for example, in relation to health the 2D:4D ratios show correlations in everything from heart attacks and cancer to infectious diseases and immune function.

The psychological aspects of the 2D:4D are widely researched. Oestrogen and testosterone levels affect one’s personality and these levels can be identified from the relative finger lengths. A larger ring finger shows higher male traits, such as enhanced assertion and aggression, spatial judgment and problem-solving. A larger index finger is associated with female personality traits, such as language skills and emotional receptivity. Careers such as engineering, mathematics and physics compared to social sciences, teaching and health care are associated with different testosterone and oestrogen levels.

Dermatoglyphics: The finger prints

Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of the finger prints

The study of dermatoglyphics is a mainstream science. This includes the prints found on the fingers and palm, which are the only aspects of the hand that do not change from birth and show our deepest genetic and psychological traits. They are fully formed by the fifteenth week of gestation.

Different prints on the hand correspond to different health conditions. Thousands of research papers verify dermatoglyphics to be an indicator of issues such as heart conditions, cancer, blood pressure, diabetes, digestive disorders, arthritis, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders to name a few.

In addition to health, characterisation studies of finger prints show psychological traits including introverted and extroverted behaviour, risk taking, gentleness, observational skills, passiveness, motivation, independent thinking, cleverness, criticism and competition.

Understanding the finger prints gives one insight into the deepest aspects of your personality, skills, psychology and character.