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I know we're smarter...
All those parents in the '70s and '80s who made their left-handed children struggle to use their right hands may be kicking themselves right about now. As it turns out, left-handers might have the advantage in certain areas like, say, piloting a jet fighter or talking and driving at the same time. A study published in the journal Neuropsychology in late 2006 suggests that left-handed people are faster at processing multiple stimuli than righties.
The research conducted at the Australian National University (ANU) seems to back up earlier studies showing that left- or right-handedness is determined in the womb and that many lefties process language using both hemispheres of the brain, as opposed to righties, who seem to use primarily the left hemisphere for this purpose.
The two hemispheres, or halves, of the brain are pretty much identical, and for the most part, they process the same information, with data passing back and forth between them primarily via one large neural pathway. However, certain tasks, like the language processing mentioned above, tend to take place in one hemisphere or the other. For most people, language processing happens in the left hemisphere. For left-handed people, it might actually take place in both hemispheres. Another area of specialization is that of sensory-data processing: Typically, data picked up on the right side of the body (the right eye, the right ear, etc.) goes to the left hemisphere for processing, and data picked up on the left side goes to the right hemisphere. In the end, the brain essentially combines the processing results from both hemispheres to come up with what we consciously see and hear.
Photo courtesy Nintendo
Lefties may have the advantage in fast-paced video games.
The research adds to the slowly growing body of work supporting the hypothesis that people who favor their left hand for writing probably have brains that are more conducive to simultaneous, bi-hemisphere processing of information. The ANU researchers set up tests intended specifically to test the speed of information flow between the two sides of the brain. There were 80 right-handers and 20 left-handers involved in the study. In one test, a computer would show a single dot either to the left or to the right of a dividing line, and the subjects had to press a button to indicate which side the dot showed up on. The left-handed subjects were faster overall at this task. In another test, subjects had to match up multiple letters that appeared in some cases on either side of the line and in other cases on just one side of the line. In this test, the left-handed subjects were faster at matching letters that appeared on both sides of the line, while the right-handed subjects were quicker at matching up letters that appeared on only one side of the line. This latter observation could indicate that righties are faster than lefties at processing stimuli that targets only one hemisphere of the brain.
According to lead researcher Dr. Nick Cherbuin in an interview with AM ABC, the results support the anatomical observation that the major "connection between the left brain and the right brain" is "somewhat larger and better connected in left-handers."
So what does this mean? It could mean that left-handers have a slight advantage in sports, gaming and other activities in which players face large volumes of stimuli being thrown at them simultaneously or in quick succession. Theoretically, they could more easily use both hemispheres of the brain to manage that stimuli, resulting in faster overall processing and response time. It could also mean that when one hemisphere of the brain got overloaded and started to slow down, the other hemisphere could more easily pick up the slack without missing a beat. Experts also theorize that left-handed people could fare better mentally as they move into old age and overall brain processing starts to slow down: With a greater ability for one brain hemisphere to quickly back up the tasks of the other, left-handed seniors could retain mental quickness longer than their right-handed counterparts.
I know we're smarter...
Sweet, I have an Intel Pentium Dual-Core brain....
...I'm ambidextrious...
I've never paid much attention to it....but on the other hand....
My oldest is also. He always eats and brushes his teeth with his left hand, but writes with his right.
I write with my right, among other things (I mean like eat and drink) but shoot a basket ball and throw with my left....
To me you're only ambidextrious if you can do things like write with both hands...and you still have a dominant hand.
There was this dude that could write in Arabic and English simulataneously...
Now he was ambidextrious.
....l can beat you with with both of my hands because I am ambidextrous....
I am amphibious...
I'm right-handed.
But left-footed.
So what hemisphere of my brain do I use most?
Manu is left-handed.
So is Beno.Manu is left-handed.
Thats what I was thinking myself
just so we are clear, since the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, only left handed people are in their right minds.
are there any left handed candidates for president? (please God, do not tell me Hillary is a lefty, if so this whole theory is shot to )
My youngest sister is dyslexic & ambidextrous... I know that sounds like to the set up of a joke but it's true. When she finally went to a specialist to learn how to read, they found out out she could write the same thing going in 2 directions at the same time. They also used a mirror in teaching her how to read.
I can read upside down pretty fast but I can't write with my left hand and still have it legible. I can draw with both hands.
I don't know about in this election...but the only right handed President in the last 27 years...is W. Reagan, Clinton and Bush 1 were all lefties.
A lot of left handed people have dyslexia...I think they suspect there is some kind of link.
Her dominant hand is her right but she uses the left a lot.
tlong is a switch hitter, I hear.
I'm ambidextrous but also lean towards being more dominant with my left..i write and things like that with my left but shoot a basketball and throw with my right so i don't know..
Chopper:
Write: Left handed
Eat: Left handed
Throw a baseball: Right handed
Golf: Right handed
Play pool: Left handed
Shoot hoops: Either (good for games of horse), but better with my right
Hit a baseball: Either
Dates with Sally: Right handed
Tickle the monkette: Left handed
Well, I think that about covers it.
I think most lefties are halfway ambidextrious because...just about everything is made for freaking righthanders....
Scissors
Guns
Cars
Written English
Most Golf Clubs
Etc.
I think my dog is a southpaw...
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