Left-handedness

[Beauty]

Hi Jabbela,

I totally believe you. My friend was a lefty and his mom forced (not only insisted) him to use his right hand to do everything, but now he can use both fairly well.

Are you happier that your grandparent insisted on it?

Beauty

[Aeryn]

I am left-sided in virtually everything I do. The two exceptions are golf (I learned right-handed because no one had left-handed clubs) and karate, where I tend to be more ambidextrous, as that is kind of a requirement.

Stanely Coren wrote an interesting book called the Left-Handers Syndrome, for any of you lefties that are interested.

aeryn

[Kyra]

I'm a lefty from the word go. Cathy, I think I lean toward your second type of lefthandedness, although I wouldn't really consider my brain "conventional" ##oo##

I do find that many tasks I perform on a daily basis tend to be done by my right hand. My pen and brush are always in my left hand, but I'm more comfortable with a screwdriver in my right. Maybe I lean more towards the ambidextrous category...I dunno.

Just my $ .02

Hugs,
Kyra

[Joselle]

Hi Everyone

1 Right
2 Right
3 Right
4 Left... I don't see too well with my right eye

Here's a good link explaining all about lefties



http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ... ness.shtml

Hugs

Joselle

[Jessie]

My fathere is left handed and he had an intersting story that he always told me. When go threw school he had a left handed teacher and taught the correct way to hold a writting untensal and made rightes write sort of upside down. Kind of weird I thought untill I tried it my self and felt that always hurt my wriste luckley I did not do it that long.

Jessie

[Aeryn]

Hi Everyone

Here's a good link explaining all about lefties

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ... ness.shtml

Hugs

Joselle

"Studies have suggested that a 'lefty' may be more talented in areas thought to be controlled by the right side of the brain – spatial awareness, maths and architecture. Right-handers may have better verbal abilities because the left hemisphere of the brain is generally more efficient in processing verbal information. However, this theory is highly controversial..."


First thing I thought was funny is that the two "knights" are both right handed.

Anyway, the studies don't fit me well apparently. I suck at math but have very strong verbal skills. I do tend to have good spatial awareness.

aeryn

[Susann_Gardener]

1. Which hand do you write with? Left
2. Which hand do you throw a ball with? Right - taught that way
3. Which hand do you bat (or play tennis) with? Left
4. Which eye would you prefer to look through a microsope with? Left

I probably fit the second category quite well.
Susann

[Jamie Ann]

What is known is that about 10–14% of the world population is left-handed and men are twice as likely to be left-handed as women.

Left-handers have long been persecuted but some scientists believe that they have at least one advantage over right-handers. They may be more likely to come out on top in hand-to-hand combat or sports like cricket or baseball.

This may be because there are fewer left-handers, so when a right handed person (who is used to fighting mainly right-handers) encounters a left-hander, he is overwhelmed by the unfamiliar experience.

Or it may be that hormones play a part. There is a theory that, on average, left-handed people are exposed to higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone in the womb. High levels of testosterone are linked with more assertive behaviour.

1. Which hand do you write with?      Answer: right.
2. Which hand do you throw a ball with?      Answer: right.
3. Which hand do you bat (or play tennis) with?      Answer: right.
4. Which eye would you prefer to look through a microscope with?      Answer: right.

     If the 10-14% figure of the article Joselle cited is correct, with men about twice as likely as women to be left-handed, that would mean that about 8% of all women are lefties, about 16% of all men being so.

        Forum        Men        Women
         56%          84%          92%
         44%          16%           8%
       ———         ———         ———
        100%        100%        100%

     Those who responded and say that they are right-handed or predominantly right-handed are only about 56% of all those who responded.  Although this sample is small and self-selected, 56% is much less than the comparable figure for the male population generally, and much, much less than for the female population generally.

     Of course, the real question is, “Which leg do you put first into your pantyhose?”     

[Paige]

     Of course, the real question is, “Which leg do you put first into your pantyhose?”     

Now there's a question that doesn't require a lot of thinking. I always put my left leg in first. I've tried the right leg but it just seems too difficult

Paige

[Cathy L. Anderson]

Here's a good link...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/ ... ness.shtml

Thanks--a good article.

I searched around and found a couple of interesting tidbits. One is that in indigenous cultures, shamans are often left-handed. They're also frequently associated with transvestism, so there's a mild link there.

Also, there's at least a potentially useful analogy between left-handedness and transgenderism. Why are roughly 14% of males lefties? It is argued there may be some advantage for society with having this kind of diversity. The same might might also be true for transgenderism.

[Jamie Ann]

I searched around and found a couple of interesting tidbits. One is that in indigenous cultures, shamans are often left-handed. They're also frequently associated with transvestism, so there's a mild link there.

Also, there's at least a potentially useful analogy between left-handedness and transgenderism. Why are roughly 14% of males lefties? It is argued there may be some advantage for society with having this kind of diversity. The same might might also be true for transgenderism.

Hi Cathy,

     Could you supply more information? Indigenous to where? Asia? Canada? Argentina? Your 14% figure, incidently, does not follow logically from the figures given in the article (≈12% of all human beings, with men twice as likely as women, implies ≈16% of men). If you know of a reliable source that gives data on being a shaman and being left- or right-handed, I would be interested in a reference. Thanks.

[Jabbela]

Hi Jabbela,

I totally believe you. My friend was a lefty and his mom forced (not only insisted) him to use his right hand to do everything, but now he can use both fairly well.

Are you happier that your grandparent insisted on it?

Beauty

Hi Beauty,

as I wasn't able to think about the difference, I had not made up my mind, if I would be happier as left handed writer. Of course I wasn't very happy with the force from my grandpa. We had a lot of problems, as we both tend not to move from our status quo. We were always struggling.

Anyway all the others are not happy with my grandpa, because it is really hard to read my hand writing - I often got bad marks due to that. The only fun thing is, that I can fluently write in mirrored letters, when usng my left hand for writing.

Except all my other left-hand things, there are some things I learned right-handed, like playing guitar (not really good). I also use my Mac-mouse with the right hand.

So I am just mostly left handed.

Hugs, Jabbela

[Lorna]

Hi Cathy,

I'm the only lefty in my entire family. I write with my left hand, have always batted lefty, I have 2 left-handed guitars, and always look thru a telescope with my left eye.

Oddly enough, I prefer to use a computer mouse with my RIGHT hand!

[Violet]

My mother is a lefty, but I'm right, right, right, and right. My wing is the only thing about me that's left.

[Cathy L. Anderson]

Ok, now I am going to toss a monkey wrench into the pot... I am ambidextrious, I use either hand interchangably,
neither eye is dominant

Hi Terri,

Most lefties, at least the "type 2" kind, are at least partly ambidextrous. It sounds like you're more so than most.

What is the biological explanation for all this? One possibility is that an ambidextrous person has good development of the functions in both brain hemispheres. Another is that they have excellent communication between the brain hemispheres. The area between hemispheres which contains neural pathways that connect them is called the corpus callosum.

Now here is something I found on the web:

"Men and women process information differently because of differences in a portion of the brain called the splenium [part of the corpus callosum], which is much larger in women than in men, and has more brain-wave activity. (9) Studies have shown that problemsolving tasks in female brains are handled by both hemispheres, while the male brain only uses one hemisphere."

"Differences in the ways men and women communicate is also a function of sex-specific areas of the brain. Women seem to have an enhanced awareness of "emotionally relevant details, visual cues, verbal nuances, and hidden meanings," writes Nadeau. Similarly, while male infants are more interested in objects than in people, female infants respond more readily to the human voice than do male infants."

And also this from Dr. Becky Allison's website:

"I read with interest the reports of various "diagnostic tests" for transsexualism. A physician friend of mine conducted a well-designed study of MRI brain scans, evaluating the size of the corpus callosum (the structure that connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain). The study did seem to indicate that, on the average, MtoF transsexual women had a larger, more bulbous "splenium" portion of the corpus callosum than nontranssexual men."

One *possibility* (and that's all it is at this point) is that some males are born with superior communication between brain hemispheres. And for some of these, this gives them the option to thinking in either a male or a female way, and also lets them be partly or fully ambidextrous.

Cathy