Sixth finger not a useless mutation, scientists say after brain scans of mother and son

By | June 13, 2019

Tying your shoes with one hand or having an intense advantage in video games might be possible if you have six fingers, according to researchers.

One new study took a closer look at polydactyly, when someone is born with more than five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.

Researchers say people with polydactyly normally have the extra appendages removed because they look odd or aren’t completely developed — but now they say having a sixth finger can save you from using two hands.

The subjects in the study, a 17-year-old male and his 52-year-old mother, have a supernumary finger between their thumb and index finger.

The study aimed to understand how the finger, which was likened to having an extra thumb, is used and whether the brain had trouble processing another extremity.

Scientists had the mother and son perform various physical tasks while connected to an fMRI.

Researchers found the sixth finger was controlled by its own muscles and nerves, while the muscles around the thumb were also different — giving the study subjects more control with one hand than five-fingered counterparts.

For example, the mother and son could tie their shoes with one hand, use the extra finger when typing and the teen includes the sixth finger while gaming.

“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 extraordinary versatile and skillful,” said Carsten Mehring in a press release from the University of Freiburg.

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The brain did not appear to be taxed by having to control one more finger and actually appeared to be designed to handle it.

“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,” said Etienne Burdet of Imperial College London in the release.

The study doesn’t necessarily apply to all people with extra digits because only two people with six fingers were included in the research, but scientists hope it can be a launching pad for other teams looking at polydactyly, as well as artificial limbs.

“The biomechanics and functionality of the polydactyly hands analyzed in this paper may be used as a blueprint for the development of robotic hands,” reads the report.

They also hope parents will think twice before opting to remove a child’s sixth finger.

Twitter: @bobbyhristova

E-mail: bhristova@postmedia.com

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