Literature on Digit Ratio is rapidly growing in Economics. Quite surprisingly we observe that there is no consensus about how to make an accurate measurement in such a delicate task. Along this brief document we offer some concise guidance of how to scan the hands using digital scanners and provide a comprehensive guideline to make a reliable measurement of the 2D:4D. Furthermore, we point out the most common imaging and measurement errors. We also provide a number of hints aimed to avoid these errors that in some cases may cause systematic inaccuracies

Brañas-Garza, Pablo

Neyse, Levent

Munich Personal RePEc Archive

MPRA
Munich Personal RePEc Archive
Digit Ratio Measurement Guide
Levent Neyse and Pablo Bran˜as-Garza
Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Middlesex University Business
School
5. March 2014
Online at http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/54134/
MPRA Paper No. 54134, posted 7. March 2014 07:54 UTC
 1 
Digit Ratio Measurement Guide 
 
Levent Neyse Pablo Brañas-Garza 
 
Institute for the World Economy (IfW) 
levent.neyse@ifw-kiel.de 
 
Middlesex University London 
branasgarza@gmail.com 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
Literature on Digit Ratio is rapidly growing in Economics. Quite surprisingly we observe that 
there is no consensus about how to make an accurate measurement in such a delicate task. 
Along this brief document we offer some concise guidance of how to scan the hands using 
digital scanners and provide a comprehensive guideline to make a reliable measurement of 
the 2D:4D. Furthermore, we point out the most common imaging and measurement errors. 
We also provide a number of hints aimed to avoid these errors that in some cases may cause 
systematic inaccuracies. 
Keywords: 2D:4D; Digit Ratio; Measurement; Guide 
 
Introduction 
This paper is motivated by the lack of agreement about how we measure digit ratio 
and also which hands to measure. 2d:4d studies in Economics have used various 
methods so far. Brañas-Garza and Rustichini (2011) use photocopies of the right 
hands, Garbarino et al. (2011) use scans and they measure the mean of both hands. 
Turiegano & Sanchez-Pagés (2010)
1
 and Pearson & Schipper (2012) use the scans of 
the right hand only. Recent papers have also shown that both hands –and not only the 
right one- are providing valuable information about economic behavior (see Brañas-
Garza et al. 2013 and 2014). In fact, endocrinology studies claim that the left hand is a 
more precise proxy of fetal exp             -Cruz et al. 2012). 
Since the measure depends on small units of length and is unobservable without using 
a measurement tool, self-reported measurements have been argued to be invalid 
(Brañas-Garza and Kovárík, 2013). The other options, like direct measurement or 
                                                 
1
 They use TPS Software Package to measure the scans. (http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/morph/) 
 2 
photocopies, are also short of accuracy. Flatbed scanners appear to be the most 
appropriate tools in terms of precision, practicality and costs.
2
 
In the following we present a simple but thorough guide to measure both hands using 
digital scans. We comment on the most common errors and we also provide a number 
of hints aimed to avoid these issues. 
 
Which Imaging Device? 
Although there are various options (like direct measurement, photocopies or X-Ray) 
digital scans are extremely useful in the measurement process. With image editing 
softwares (i.e. Adobe Photoshop®) you can adjust the contrast of the images, crop, 
sharpen, zoom in-out and work on it even pixel by pixel. Do you really need these? 
Yes. At least for the 15% of your sample you need them. Because even if it seems like 
everything went well in the scanning process, when you start to measure the ratios, 
you realize slight differences between the images. These differences do not seem to 
be large at the fi  t  ight  nd y   m y think th t th y     “j  t  t nd  d       ”. B t 
you should not forget that we are dealing not with centimeters but millimeters. 
Therefore, even the slightest measurement deviation may end up being a falsely 
measured digit ratio distribution in the overall dataset. 
L t’  f      n th t 15%  f th    mpl . Wh t are those differences between images?  
First of all, every individual has a unique body structure; therefore unique hand 
shapes. Some have visible lines, some do not and also some lines are difficult to 
interpret (See Figure 1). With the software you can adjust the darkness and the 
contrast of the image so that the lines may get clearer. “C  v  ” t  l in Ph t  h p® is 
highly useful on this issue.
3
  
Even if you make very clear instructions and check each image while scanning; there 
always are scans where you cannot see the details. The participants sometimes push 
on the scanner too hard, or show their fingertips (See Figure 2) instead of their fingers 
(so they create a gap between hand and the scanner). Participants also sometimes 
                                                 
2
 Although we do not want to name any specific scanner brands, we obtained the best results by far 
with Epson Perfection 1660. 
3
 Ctrl+M in PC and Cmd+M in Mac are the keyboard shortcuts 
 3 
move their hands or fingers during the scan; so you find blurred images in the data 
folder (See Figure 3).  
Beside the other mentioned devices above, X-Rays are used to scan the hands of the 
subjects (Manning et al., 2000; McIntyre, 2005). However, it is not common to have 
an X-Ray machine in a non-medicine faculty or in the field. Furthermore, Institutional 
Review Boards (IRB) are relatively hesitant about approving X-Rays due to radiation 
exposure. Although the impact of radiation is reducible and it is way less harmful than 
the other imaging techniques (i.e. tomography), ethical concern due to a slightly rising 
cancer risk in excessive radiation exposure (See Gonzales & Darby 2004) is a 
substantial reason behind the rigor of IRBs.
4
   
 
 
Figure 1: A difficult measurement: The lines are not clear. 
 
Photocopies, on the other hand, are always tricky. The quality is usually low and even 
with a digital caliper it is not that easy to make an excellent measurement. But if you 
do not have an option in the field for instance or you happen to find photocopies on 
your desk with such a note from a colleague “Wh t   n w  d   b  t th   ?” you must 
find a solution. That solution is to scan all of the photocopies and do whatever you do 
with the scanning method. 
                                                 
4
 See the report of U.S. Food and Drug Administration report for further details: 
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM185316.pdf 
 4 
Direct measurement with a digital caliper does not give you the option to re-measure 
and it is more difficult to make an accurate measurement if the hand is not on a 2D 
surface as in the images. 
 
 
Figure 2: An incorrect scan: Lines are not visible. 
 
Scanning Hands in Practice 
Check the hands first 
Now we will present some information about how to proceed. At the end of the 
d   m nt y   will find   “ h  k li t”. 
Make sure that the participant does not wear any jewelry like a shiny ring. It may 
reflect the light in the scanner and ruin the scan. In some cases the ring may leave a 
mark on the skin. You can wait a bit and ask the participant to rub her/his hand a bit 
after taking off the ring. 
Some participants (mostly students) forget to clean some “notes” they wrote on their 
hands. It is better to keep a pack of wet tissue by the scanner just in case. 
 5 
Some participants may have a hand injury or a broken finger. Ask them if they had 
any injuries in the past. Exclude them from the dataset if they had. 
 
 
 
Figure 3: An incorrect scan:  Finger tips are not visible 
 
Give Brief Information 
We usually explain to the subjects what we n  d: “We are trying to measure your 
finger lengths. We are not taking your fingerprints. So, please do not push the scanner 
with your fingertips. Just place both your hands firmly on the scanner; making sure 
that the scanner can capture a clear image of your hand. And please do not move your 
hand until we   y   .”5  
 
ID Number 
We should be extremely cautious with anonymity when measuring digit ratio. Since 
you cannot work with the names in the dataset, you can give a number to each subject 
and stick this id number with a paper (i.e. Post-it) in the palm (see the example 
provided in Figure 4).  
                                                 
5
 Occasionally we hear complaints concerning the finger marks. You can provide small stickers to 
those, who are concerned about giving their fingerprints. So that they can use them to cover their finger 
prints. Recall that those should not cover the finger tips and the lines. 
 6 
Recall that this paper must not cover the bottom creases of fingers. With id numbers 
as such M1234, F1235 you can record the gender of the participant. It is also a quite 
good idea to save the file using the same id number. 
Recall that putting the letter F or M in the beginning of the number is more practical 
than putting it in the end. You can sort the data easier in the dataset. 
Scan! 
Place the both hands of the subjects on the scanner, making sure that all the fingers 
are straight and visible. The hands do not have to be at the same angle so you can 
place the hands as you like in order to place all the fingers on the flatbed properly. 
Depending on your scanner you may want to cover the hands with a fabric cover or a 
t-shirt. You do not have to close the cover of the scanner. But you will find your own 
way depending on your scanner anyway. Please see previous Figure 2 and 3 to avoid 
errors. 
Now you can press the scan button and wait. The participants usually ask, “Wh t i  
thi   b  t?” in those 10 seconds. And you say, “Th         t di     gg  ting   m  
     l ti n  b tw  n  xp  im nt l     lt   nd fing   l ngth ”. Thi   xpl n ti n i  
usually enough. 
 
Check Together 
Check the image right after the scan together with the participant. So, if there is 
anything wrong with the scan, you can explain the problem and re-scan. In the case 
that you get a scan like shown in Figure 3 you may need to run the whole procedure 
once again. 
If nothing is wrong you must have a nice picture like shown in Figure 4 or Figure 5. 
Save the image in two different folders in the computer just in case. .jpg, .jpeg or .pdf 
are the most common file extensions that we use. 
Since you are going to need to connect experimental results with the scans you can 
use a unique id number in the experiment and in the scans. It is better to rename the 
image right after the scan with this id number. Participant can go now. A sample of a 
clean scan can be seen in Figure 4 and Figure 5. 
 
 7 
 
Figure 4: Correct Scan 
 
 
Figure 5: Correct Scan 
 8 
We usually clean the scanner glass after each scan with a towel or a fabric in order to 
provide subjects a relatively hygienic scan.  
 
Measurement 
Digital measurements 
In Photoshop© th    i    “  l   t  l” n  m lly  n th  l ft h nd  id   f th       n. If 
n t, y     n  ight  li k th  “ y d  pp   t  l”  nd  h     th    l   t  l th   . Y     n 
switch on the toolbox f  m th  “wind w” m n   b v  th       n if it is not on. 
You can change the rotation of the image here: Image>Image Rotation 
Zoom in the picture as much as you like. You can change the measurement units (cm-
mm-pix l   t ) in “p  f   n   ”.  
Make sure that you use a unique unit for the whole sample. If you start with the pixels 
do not switch it back to cm again in that sample. Since you are dealing not with 
absolute values but with ratios, you can use any unit in the end.  
A  m nti n d  b v  “   v  ” t  l i  quite handy when it is difficult to interpret the 
lines in the hand or the scan quality is not good enough.  
L t’  g t started with the measurement. Figure 6 provides some additional help to do 
the measurement: 
 For the ring finger take the first line in the basal crease. Click on the median of 
the line, right in the middle. Then click on the fingertip carefully. Sometimes 
the shadow of the finger or the fingernail can be misleading. What 
Photoshop© does is to measure the distance between two reference points. On 
the top of the screen; below the menu buttons you see many numbers 
measuring many things. The number we see next to L1 is the number we are 
looking for. 
 For the index finger, follow the same procedure. But this time the line is a bit 
less clear in the basal crease. Try to find the best point in order to draw a 
straight line up until the fingertip.  
Now save these numbers. Dividing the length of index finger to the length of ring 
finger will give you the ratio. (See Figure 6) 
 9 
 
Figure 6: Digit Ratio Measurement 
 
Measure Once Again 
After finishing the whole sample, do not touch the measurements for a day or so. 
Then re-measure everything. It is a common procedure. If the measurements are 
correct you will find at least 90-95% correlation between the sets of two ratios. You 
can use the mean of these two ratios in the dataset as well. 
 
Some Important Points 
1- Digit Ratio is an ethnicity-related value. So focus on only one race. If your 
sample is mostly Caucasians for example, you should exclude the non-
Caucasians in the dataset. You should have this information from the 
participants. You can simply add the list in to the questionnaire (which you 
probably run anyway), so that the participants can choose themselves. There 
 10 
are differences across count i  ’      inf  m ti n g th  ing t  hniq   . O   
research provided us various racial subgroups. For convenience we abstracted 
the list as: Caucasian, African, Mid-A i n  Indi , P ki t n…), E  t-Asian 
 Chin , K    , J p n…)  nd Mix d. Th         th     bg   p     h    
Carribean, Eskimo et cetera. So, you may want to define your own list 
depending on your sample. 
2- Scan both hands. Although there are many papers reporting only right hands 
now you need to report the results for both hands in many journals. Scan both, 
just in case. As noted before, papers have also shown that both hands –and not 
only the right one- are providing valuable information about economic 
behavior (see Brañas-Garza et al. 2013 and 2014). 
3- Some of the files are saved too large. Especially when they are in PNG format. 
Recall that when you import these files not one by one but 10 by 10 in 
Photoshop© for instance. If an image is, say 75MBs, the measurement will 
take more time. A high-resolution scanner is a must but you do not need to 
excess 300dpi and a width of 2400 pixels. 
 
 
 
Box 1: Check List 
1- No rings, clean hands, no ring 
marks on the skin. 
2- Ask if the subject has had any 
hand injuries before. Like a 
broken finger etc. 
3- Scan the hand with the id 
number so that it will be easier 
to integrate it in the dataset. 
4- Add gender information to the 
id number. 
5- Save the information about 
race. 
6- Place the hands on scanner 
firmly.  
7- Cover the hands with a fabric 
or a black t-shirt if necessary. 
8- Check the image together with 
the participant; if necessary 
scan again. 
9- Save the files twice 
 
 
 11 
References 
Bosch-Domènech, A., Brañas-Garza, P., & Espín, AM. 2014. Can exposure to 
prenatal sex hormones (2D:4D) predict cognitive reflection Psycho-
neuroendocrinology, forthcoming. 
Brañas-   z , P., K vář k, J., & N y  , L. 2013. S   nd-to-fourth digit ratio has a 
non-monotonic impact on altruism. PLoS ONE 8(4), e60419. 
Brañas-   z , P., & K vář k, J. 2013. Digit Ratios and Social Preferences. A 
comment on Buser,  unpublished. 
Brañas-Garza, P., & Rustichini A. 2011. Organizing Effects of Testosterone and 
Economic Behavior: Not Just Risk Taking. PLoS ONE 6(12): e29842. 
de González, A. B., & Darby, S. (2004). Risk of cancer from diagnostic X-rays: 
estimates for the UK and 14 other countries. The Lancet 363(9406), 345-351. 
Garbarino, E., Slonim, R., & Sydnor, J. 2011. Digit Ratios (2d:4d) as Predictors of 
Risky Decision Making for Both Sexes. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 42(1): 1-26. 
0.1007/s11166-010-9109-6. 
      -Cruz E, Huguet J, Piqueras M. 2012. Second to fourth digit ratio, adult 
testosterone level and testosterone deficiency. British Journal of Urology 
International 109(2): 266- 71. 
Manning, J. T., Trivers, R. L., Thornhill, R., & Singh, D. (2000). The 2nd: 4th digit 
ratio and asymmetry of hand performance in Jamaican children. Laterality 5(2), 121-
132. 
McIntyre, M. H., Ellison, P. T., Lieberman, D. E., Demerath, E., & Towne, B. (2005). 
The development of sex differences in digital formula from infancy in the Fels 
Longitudinal Study. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 
272(1571), 1473-1479. 
Pearson, M., & Schipper, B. 2012. The Visible Hand: Finger Ratio (2D:4D) and 
Competitive Bidding. Experimental Economics 15, 510-529. 
Sanchez-Pagés, S., & Turiegano, E. 2010. Testosterone, Facial Symmetry and 
Cooperation in the Prisoners' Dilemma. Physiology & Behavior 99(3): 355-361. 
10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.11.013. 


Digit Ratio Measurement Guide

Munich RePEc Personal Archive

MPRAMunich Personal RePEc ArchiveDigit Ratio Measurement GuideLevent Neyse and Pablo Bran˜as-GarzaKiel Institute for the World Economy, Middlesex University BusinessSchool5. March 2014Online at http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/54134/MPRA Paper No. 54134, posted 7. March 2014 07:54 UTC 1 Digit Ratio Measurement Guide  Levent Neyse Pablo Brañas-Garza  Institute for the World Economy (IfW) levent.neyse@ifw-kiel.de  Middlesex University London branasgarza@gmail.com     Abstract Literature on Digit Ratio is rapidly growing in Economics. Quite surprisingly we observe that there is no consensus about how to make an accurate measurement in such a delicate task. Along this brief document we offer some concise guidance of how to scan the hands using digital scanners and provide a comprehensive guideline to make a reliable measurement of the 2D:4D. Furthermore, we point out the most common imaging and measurement errors. We also provide a number of hints aimed to avoid these errors that in some cases may cause systematic inaccuracies. Keywords: 2D:4D; Digit Ratio; Measurement; Guide  Introduction This paper is motivated by the lack of agreement about how we measure digit ratio and also which hands to measure. 2d:4d studies in Economics have used various methods so far. Brañas-Garza and Rustichini (2011) use photocopies of the right hands, Garbarino et al. (2011) use scans and they measure the mean of both hands. Turiegano & Sanchez-Pagés (2010)1 and Pearson & Schipper (2012) use the scans of the right hand only. Recent papers have also shown that both hands –and not only the right one- are providing valuable information about economic behavior (see Brañas-Garza et al. 2013 and 2014). In fact, endocrinology studies claim that the left hand is a more precise proxy of fetal exp             -Cruz et al. 2012). Since the measure depends on small units of length and is unobservable without using a measurement tool, self-reported measurements have been argued to be invalid (Brañas-Garza and Kovárík, 2013). The other options, like direct measurement or                                                  1 They use TPS Software Package to measure the scans. (http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/morph/)  2 photocopies, are also short of accuracy. Flatbed scanners appear to be the most appropriate tools in terms of precision, practicality and costs.2 In the following we present a simple but thorough guide to measure both hands using digital scans. We comment on the most common errors and we also provide a number of hints aimed to avoid these issues.  Which Imaging Device? Although there are various options (like direct measurement, photocopies or X-Ray) digital scans are extremely useful in the measurement process. With image editing softwares (i.e. Adobe Photoshop®) you can adjust the contrast of the images, crop, sharpen, zoom in-out and work on it even pixel by pixel. Do you really need these? Yes. At least for the 15% of your sample you need them. Because even if it seems like everything went well in the scanning process, when you start to measure the ratios, you realize slight differences between the images. These differences do not seem to be large at the fi  t  ight  nd y   m y think th t th y     “j  t  t nd  d       ”. B t you should not forget that we are dealing not with centimeters but millimeters. Therefore, even the slightest measurement deviation may end up being a falsely measured digit ratio distribution in the overall dataset. L t’  f      n th t 15%  f th    mpl . Wh t are those differences between images?  First of all, every individual has a unique body structure; therefore unique hand shapes. Some have visible lines, some do not and also some lines are difficult to interpret (See Figure 1). With the software you can adjust the darkness and the contrast of the image so that the lines may get clearer. “C  v  ” t  l in Ph t  h p® is highly useful on this issue.3  Even if you make very clear instructions and check each image while scanning; there always are scans where you cannot see the details. The participants sometimes push on the scanner too hard, or show their fingertips (See Figure 2) instead of their fingers (so they create a gap between hand and the scanner). Participants also sometimes                                                  2 Although we do not want to name any specific scanner brands, we obtained the best results by far with Epson Perfection 1660. 3 Ctrl+M in PC and Cmd+M in Mac are the keyboard shortcuts  3 move their hands or fingers during the scan; so you find blurred images in the data folder (See Figure 3).  Beside the other mentioned devices above, X-Rays are used to scan the hands of the subjects (Manning et al., 2000; McIntyre, 2005). However, it is not common to have an X-Ray machine in a non-medicine faculty or in the field. Furthermore, Institutional Review Boards (IRB) are relatively hesitant about approving X-Rays due to radiation exposure. Although the impact of radiation is reducible and it is way less harmful than the other imaging techniques (i.e. tomography), ethical concern due to a slightly rising cancer risk in excessive radiation exposure (See Gonzales & Darby 2004) is a substantial reason behind the rigor of IRBs.4     Figure 1: A difficult measurement: The lines are not clear.  Photocopies, on the other hand, are always tricky. The quality is usually low and even with a digital caliper it is not that easy to make an excellent measurement. But if you do not have an option in the field for instance or you happen to find photocopies on your desk with such a note from a colleague “Wh t   n w  d   b  t th   ?” you must find a solution. That solution is to scan all of the photocopies and do whatever you do with the scanning method.                                                  4 See the report of U.S. Food and Drug Administration report for further details: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM185316.pdf  4 Direct measurement with a digital caliper does not give you the option to re-measure and it is more difficult to make an accurate measurement if the hand is not on a 2D surface as in the images.   Figure 2: An incorrect scan: Lines are not visible.  Scanning Hands in Practice Check the hands first Now we will present some information about how to proceed. At the end of the d   m nt y   will find   “ h  k li t”. Make sure that the participant does not wear any jewelry like a shiny ring. It may reflect the light in the scanner and ruin the scan. In some cases the ring may leave a mark on the skin. You can wait a bit and ask the participant to rub her/his hand a bit after taking off the ring. Some participants (mostly students) forget to clean some “notes” they wrote on their hands. It is better to keep a pack of wet tissue by the scanner just in case.  5 Some participants may have a hand injury or a broken finger. Ask them if they had any injuries in the past. Exclude them from the dataset if they had.    Figure 3: An incorrect scan:  Finger tips are not visible  Give Brief Information We usually explain to the subjects what we n  d: “We are trying to measure your finger lengths. We are not taking your fingerprints. So, please do not push the scanner with your fingertips. Just place both your hands firmly on the scanner; making sure that the scanner can capture a clear image of your hand. And please do not move your hand until we   y   .”5   ID Number We should be extremely cautious with anonymity when measuring digit ratio. Since you cannot work with the names in the dataset, you can give a number to each subject and stick this id number with a paper (i.e. Post-it) in the palm (see the example provided in Figure 4).                                                   5 Occasionally we hear complaints concerning the finger marks. You can provide small stickers to those, who are concerned about giving their fingerprints. So that they can use them to cover their finger prints. Recall that those should not cover the finger tips and the lines.  6 Recall that this paper must not cover the bottom creases of fingers. With id numbers as such M1234, F1235 you can record the gender of the participant. It is also a quite good idea to save the file using the same id number. Recall that putting the letter F or M in the beginning of the number is more practical than putting it in the end. You can sort the data easier in the dataset. Scan! Place the both hands of the subjects on the scanner, making sure that all the fingers are straight and visible. The hands do not have to be at the same angle so you can place the hands as you like in order to place all the fingers on the flatbed properly. Depending on your scanner you may want to cover the hands with a fabric cover or a t-shirt. You do not have to close the cover of the scanner. But you will find your own way depending on your scanner anyway. Please see previous Figure 2 and 3 to avoid errors. Now you can press the scan button and wait. The participants usually ask, “Wh t i  thi   b  t?” in those 10 seconds. And you say, “Th         t di     gg  ting   m       l ti n  b tw  n  xp  im nt l     lt   nd fing   l ngth ”. Thi   xpl n ti n i  usually enough.  Check Together Check the image right after the scan together with the participant. So, if there is anything wrong with the scan, you can explain the problem and re-scan. In the case that you get a scan like shown in Figure 3 you may need to run the whole procedure once again. If nothing is wrong you must have a nice picture like shown in Figure 4 or Figure 5. Save the image in two different folders in the computer just in case. .jpg, .jpeg or .pdf are the most common file extensions that we use. Since you are going to need to connect experimental results with the scans you can use a unique id number in the experiment and in the scans. It is better to rename the image right after the scan with this id number. Participant can go now. A sample of a clean scan can be seen in Figure 4 and Figure 5.   7  Figure 4: Correct Scan   Figure 5: Correct Scan  8 We usually clean the scanner glass after each scan with a towel or a fabric in order to provide subjects a relatively hygienic scan.   Measurement Digital measurements In Photoshop© th    i    “  l   t  l” n  m lly  n th  l ft h nd  id   f th       n. If n t, y     n  ight  li k th  “ y d  pp   t  l”  nd  h     th    l   t  l th   . Y     n switch on the toolbox f  m th  “wind w” m n   b v  th       n if it is not on. You can change the rotation of the image here: Image>Image Rotation Zoom in the picture as much as you like. You can change the measurement units (cm-mm-pix l   t ) in “p  f   n   ”.  Make sure that you use a unique unit for the whole sample. If you start with the pixels do not switch it back to cm again in that sample. Since you are dealing not with absolute values but with ratios, you can use any unit in the end.  A  m nti n d  b v  “   v  ” t  l i  quite handy when it is difficult to interpret the lines in the hand or the scan quality is not good enough.  L t’  g t started with the measurement. Figure 6 provides some additional help to do the measurement:  For the ring finger take the first line in the basal crease. Click on the median of the line, right in the middle. Then click on the fingertip carefully. Sometimes the shadow of the finger or the fingernail can be misleading. What Photoshop© does is to measure the distance between two reference points. On the top of the screen; below the menu buttons you see many numbers measuring many things. The number we see next to L1 is the number we are looking for.  For the index finger, follow the same procedure. But this time the line is a bit less clear in the basal crease. Try to find the best point in order to draw a straight line up until the fingertip.  Now save these numbers. Dividing the length of index finger to the length of ring finger will give you the ratio. (See Figure 6)  9  Figure 6: Digit Ratio Measurement  Measure Once Again After finishing the whole sample, do not touch the measurements for a day or so. Then re-measure everything. It is a common procedure. If the measurements are correct you will find at least 90-95% correlation between the sets of two ratios. You can use the mean of these two ratios in the dataset as well.  Some Important Points 1- Digit Ratio is an ethnicity-related value. So focus on only one race. If your sample is mostly Caucasians for example, you should exclude the non-Caucasians in the dataset. You should have this information from the participants. You can simply add the list in to the questionnaire (which you probably run anyway), so that the participants can choose themselves. There  10 are differences across count i  ’      inf  m ti n g th  ing t  hniq   . O   research provided us various racial subgroups. For convenience we abstracted the list as: Caucasian, African, Mid-A i n  Indi , P ki t n…), E  t-Asian  Chin , K    , J p n…)  nd Mix d. Th         th     bg   p     h    Carribean, Eskimo et cetera. So, you may want to define your own list depending on your sample. 2- Scan both hands. Although there are many papers reporting only right hands now you need to report the results for both hands in many journals. Scan both, just in case. As noted before, papers have also shown that both hands –and not only the right one- are providing valuable information about economic behavior (see Brañas-Garza et al. 2013 and 2014). 3- Some of the files are saved too large. Especially when they are in PNG format. Recall that when you import these files not one by one but 10 by 10 in Photoshop© for instance. If an image is, say 75MBs, the measurement will take more time. A high-resolution scanner is a must but you do not need to excess 300dpi and a width of 2400 pixels.    Box 1: Check List 1- No rings, clean hands, no ring marks on the skin. 2- Ask if the subject has had any hand injuries before. Like a broken finger etc. 3- Scan the hand with the id number so that it will be easier to integrate it in the dataset. 4- Add gender information to the id number. 5- Save the information about race. 6- Place the hands on scanner firmly.  7- Cover the hands with a fabric or a black t-shirt if necessary. 8- Check the image together with the participant; if necessary scan again. 9- Save the files twice    11 References Bosch-Domènech, A., Brañas-Garza, P., & Espín, AM. 2014. Can exposure to prenatal sex hormones (2D:4D) predict cognitive reflection Psycho-neuroendocrinology, forthcoming. Brañas-   z , P., K vář k, J., & N y  , L. 2013. S   nd-to-fourth digit ratio has a non-monotonic impact on altruism. PLoS ONE 8(4), e60419. Brañas-   z , P., & K vář k, J. 2013. Digit Ratios and Social Preferences. A comment on Buser,  unpublished. Brañas-Garza, P., & Rustichini A. 2011. Organizing Effects of Testosterone and Economic Behavior: Not Just Risk Taking. PLoS ONE 6(12): e29842. de González, A. B., & Darby, S. (2004). Risk of cancer from diagnostic X-rays: estimates for the UK and 14 other countries. The Lancet 363(9406), 345-351. Garbarino, E., Slonim, R., & Sydnor, J. 2011. Digit Ratios (2d:4d) as Predictors of Risky Decision Making for Both Sexes. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 42(1): 1-26. 0.1007/s11166-010-9109-6.       -Cruz E, Huguet J, Piqueras M. 2012. Second to fourth digit ratio, adult testosterone level and testosterone deficiency. British Journal of Urology International 109(2): 266- 71. Manning, J. T., Trivers, R. L., Thornhill, R., & Singh, D. (2000). The 2nd: 4th digit ratio and asymmetry of hand performance in Jamaican children. Laterality 5(2), 121-132. McIntyre, M. H., Ellison, P. T., Lieberman, D. E., Demerath, E., & Towne, B. (2005). The development of sex differences in digital formula from infancy in the Fels Longitudinal Study. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 272(1571), 1473-1479. Pearson, M., & Schipper, B. 2012. The Visible Hand: Finger Ratio (2D:4D) and Competitive Bidding. Experimental Economics 15, 510-529. Sanchez-Pagés, S., & Turiegano, E. 2010. Testosterone, Facial Symmetry and Cooperation in the Prisoners' Dilemma. Physiology & Behavior 99(3): 355-361. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.11.013. 

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Digit Ratio Measurement Guide

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