Posted on 06/07/2019 8:27:06 AM PDT by Red Badger
Having an extra finger can enable people to execute movements with a single hand that would otherwise require two. Photo courtesy of HealthDay News
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Though rare, some children are born with an extra finger, a condition known as polydactyly.
Now, for the first time, a team of researchers set out to see whether having this extra appendage is somehow beneficial.
The answer is yes.
The bottom line: Having an additional finger significantly boosts a person's ability to manipulate objects, so much so that they can execute movements with a single hand that would otherwise require two.
For the study, investigators at the University of Freiburg in Germany, Imperial College London in England and the University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland focused on two patients, each of whom had an additional finger between their thumb and forefinger, on an otherwise normal hand.
"We wanted to know if the subjects have motor skills that go beyond people with five fingers, and how the brain is able to control the additional degrees of freedom," explained study author Carsten Mehring, from the University of Freiburg.
The researchers conducted a series of brain scans and behavioral experiments designed to track how the two patients used their hands, and their brain activity while doing so.
In each case, the investigators found the extra finger had its own muscles, which enabled each person to move that finger separately from the other five fingers.
"Our subjects can use their extra fingers independently, similar to an additional thumb, either alone or together with the other five fingers, which makes manipulation extraordinarily versatile and skillful," Mehring said in a university news release.
But the bonus does not just derive from the placement of the physical finger alone, as the team tracked much of the additional movement capacity to parts of the brain that control motor skills, unearthing neural networks that were specifically dedicated to control the extra finger.
ccording to researcher Etienne Burdet, from Imperial College London, "In a nutshell, it is amazing that the brain has enough capacity to do it without sacrificing elsewhere. That's exactly what our subjects do."
The findings were published June 3 in the journal Nature Communications.
More information
There's more on polydactyly at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
It makes you more civil. You can’t give someone the “middle finger”.
That’s why Vulcans have pointed ears.
I was thinking of the same toy!
I was thinking of the same toy!
The original Outer Limits did an Episode starring David McCullum (from The Man from UNCLE) where he evolved into what a Human would be in thousands of years.
Besides having a massive Brain, he grew a sixth finger.
And that man can play.
There is some Six Finger Dwarfism among the Amish, caused by in-breeding. Occasionally first cousins will marry and that defect is sometimes the result. I only ever saw one, myself. He was not a dwarf, but about five-foot-three or four. He had an extra finger on each hand, and probably extra toes, as well. I’ve known Amish dwarfs who were four feet tall, but who had normal hands (and feet?). All from marrying too close relatives.
Glad I’m not the only one who remembers that.
David McCullum was the actor on that one.
What about Tommy Iommi’s fingers?
so he could flip off more people the same time
Not The Invaders.
They had a Pinky problem. They could travel through Interstellar Space but that darn Pinky Finger gave them away.
Most of the time this condition is a Get Out of Jail Card because — if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.
But as you picture shows, there are exceptions.
Great hands, but his pinky looks normal.
Thanks!
Those Tudors were a rollicking bunch!
Not as much fun as the Plantagenets but still very capable of an appalling atrocity, massacre or two!
Nothing to lose your head over................
Exactly!
but a little time on the rack might be good for my lower back!
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