Who is more talented - left-handers or right-handers? What is the difference between a left-hander and a right-hander: features, interesting facts, recommendations

Finally, society can also influence the phenomenon of right- or left-handedness. In Soviet times, for example, it was believed that left-handed children should be retrained. Therefore, if the parents saw that the child was holding a spoon or a pencil with his left hand, they forbade him to do so and insisted that he use his right hand. The educators did the same kindergarten and teachers at the school. Therefore, in principle, there may be more congenital left-handers than we think.
What is the difference between lefties and righties?
It is known that many prominent figures- politicians, scientists, actors, artists, composers - were left-handed. Among them - Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Andersen, Mozart, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Charlie Chaplin ... But does this mean that all left-handers – potential geniuses?
Ohio psychologists Stephen Christman and Ruth Propper conducted a curious experiment to test memory. They selected 62 people and asked them to memorize 55 words that flashed on the screen. Left-handers coped with the task two (!) times better than the rest. According to scientists, this is due to a closer interaction between the hemispheres of the brain. However, the memory of lefties is selective. So, it is easier for them to remember where they put some thing than to reproduce by heart recipe or historical date.
Over the past three decades, the number of left-handed people in the world has increased markedly. According to Swedish researchers, this is due to the fact that the ultrasound procedure, which expectant mothers undergo during pregnancy, affects the brain and central nervous system unborn children. According to some reports, there are now more than 800 million left-handers in the world, and by 2020 their number will exceed one billion ...
Finally - a test for hidden "left-handedness", recommended by psychologists. Cross the fingers of both hands together. If the top is thumb left hand - you are born left-handed.

Since the son is left-handed, I found information about them.

IF YOUR CHILD IS LEFT-HANDED
One of the mysteries of the human brain is its asymmetry: the right and left hemispheres of the brain, with all their external similarities, differ both in structure and in functions. Nevertheless, the fact that the hemispheres are not "mirror" reflections of each other has been accepted in science not so long ago.

Scientists have accumulated a huge amount of facts and observations, but for only a few decades in science, different views have been replacing each other on which of the hemispheres of the brain is “main” - left or right.

Research continues at the present time. But one thing is clear: human memory, speech, visual or auditory perception, counting, orientation in space - all these are the results of the joint work of both hemispheres of the brain. Each of them plays a role.

By the way, left-handedness is the most obvious manifestation of the unequal halves of the brain. Indeed, the active use of the left hand by a person instead of the usual right immediately attracts attention.

Have you ever wondered why a man prefers left hand? Why is it convenient for him? We all know that the left hemisphere controls the right half of the body, and the right hemisphere controls the left. Symmetry and complete “mirror” are alien to nature. This is how the world works. Therefore, not only hands, but also all paired organs and systems of a person are unequal, asymmetrical. First of all, this concerns perception (vision, hearing, skin sensitivity) and movement. So, for example, any person has one “leading” eye and the other “slave”, one ear perceives more and more “actively”, and the other, figuratively speaking, “on the sidelines”. The same is true in the motor sphere: one leg is stronger, more active, takes a longer step and even a little longer than its “colleague”. This, for example, explains the fact that a person, having lost his way in the forest, circles and returns to the same place from which he began to go. There is nothing to say about hands: a clear preference for one of the hands in everyday activities is noticeable at a glance, and even a person far from psychology will always tell who is in front of him - left-handed or right-handed.

ONE-TWO, LEFT
Strictly speaking, the concept of "left-handed" is not entirely correct, it would be more accurate to say "left-handed". And that's why. A left-handed hand can have a leading right leg, a right ear and an eye. So now try to determine unequivocally: is a person left-handed or not?

Each of us, without much difficulty, can independently explore ourselves and our loved ones, devoting a few minutes to this. Naturally, the results of our study "at home" will be very approximate. Nevertheless, they can be quite interesting, and perhaps unexpected for someone.

To determine the dominant hand, remember with which hand you perform most of the actions: throw objects, write, draw, play badminton, hold scissors, a screwdriver, toothbrush with which hand you comb your hair, unscrew the cork from the bottle, etc. The leading eye, as a rule, is more difficult to close, it is inconvenient for them to wink, but it is convenient to examine objects through a magazine folded into a tube. We usually put a telephone receiver to the leading ear, we also listen to quiet speech with it. For bouncing on one foot, climbing a step or quickly hitting the ball first, the leading foot is also used.

Pay attention to cases when, considering yourself right-handed when performing the proposed tests, you find it difficult to determine the preferred arm, leg, ear or eye. This means variants of the so-called hidden left-handedness.

Scientists have found that among ordinary people"Pure right-handers", that is, those who simultaneously have the leading right hand, eye and ear, make up only about 30%.

The extent to which the asymmetry of the body systems is expressed directly affects the behavior and ways of human reaction in different situations. So, for example, it was found that “pure right-handers” are more successful than others in orienting themselves in space, they are more sensitive to positive emotions and, in general, are more optimistic than left-handers. At the same time, left-handed and "pure left-handers" with good health often complain of a bad mood, depression, internal tension, irritability, sleep disturbances, pain in the heart.

According to statistics, left-handed and hidden left-handers are more common among women than among the stronger sex. Therefore, increased emotionality, intuition and what is popularly called topographic cretinism are considered typically feminine.

Interestingly, the right half of the brain is more altruistic than the left. That is, in cases of damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, a more successful recovery is possible than in cases of damage to the right.

FAMOUS LEFT-HANDERS

TO RE-EDUCATE OR NOT?
Child psychologists have established that, for example, at the age of 2-5 years, diseases and injuries of the brain may not lead to serious consequences. The brain of a child has an extremely high plasticity and the ability to find detours of development. It often happens that the right half of the child's brain manages to compensate for the defect so successfully that the lesions of the left hemisphere, which lead to speech disorders in adults, have almost no effect on the state of the child's speech.

In general, left-handed children are a very special topic for conversation. Despite the fact that now the attitude and methods of working with them in kindergartens and schools have changed, left-handed parents are asking the same, similar questions.

The most common of them is to retrain the child or not. In order to resolve this issue, it is necessary to find out the cause of left-handedness.

It often happens that left-handedness is a way for the child's brain to overcome the consequences of any birth trauma. For example, if the left hemisphere was damaged at birth, then the right hemisphere takes over part of its functions and the child becomes a “forced left-hander”. Just as often, left-handedness is hereditary, “family” in nature. In cases where one of the parents or his relatives are left-handed or hidden left-handers, the likelihood of such a baby in the family is very high. In these cases, it is not worth retraining the child. His brain already has an established working style that is different from the “average”. Forced relearning, and note that children instinctively resist it very strongly, can break the well-established mechanisms and lead to stuttering, writing and reading defects, emotional disturbances up to neuroses.

A child who was born without any problems, up to 1-1.5 years old, does not care which hand to take objects in. Therefore, if parents persistently put a spoon or a toy in his right hand, then the baby will safely turn into a right-handed person. If parents do not pay attention to which hand their child prefers, then he may become or remain left-handed.

The specificity of the work of the brain of a left-hander is reflected in his mental characteristics. Child psychologists note that left-handed children are more emotional, unbalanced, sensitive to the opinions of loved ones than right-handed children. They have pronounced interests and inclinations, passion for any hobby. Lefties develop coherent speech later. At school, left-handed children tend to be slow-witted. Child psychologists and teachers believe that they do not have strong ideas about where the right is, and where left-hand side. In the representation of such children, letters and numbers can be written or read not only in the mirror, but also in the horizontal and vertical directions. Accordingly, there are difficulties in mastering writing and reading. The account requires special efforts from the child, in particular, the account in the mind.

Knowing all this, we can assume that a left-handed schoolboy will definitely become a loser. However, this usually does not happen. The fact is that, seeing their mistakes, the left-hander stubbornly tries to adapt to the “right-handed” world. This requires great efforts from him, because what is formed in a “normal” child in a natural way, the left-handed person must be mastered with the help of a bypass path. Wise Nature prudently rewarded little left-handers with great imagination and colossal arbitrary self-control. Nevertheless, adults can help a left-handed child cope with difficulties with the help of a complex special exercises, games and activities developed by pediatric neuropsychologists. These exercise games are aimed at mastering the friendly work of hands and feet, unfolding activities in time and space, developing accuracy and accuracy, consolidating ideas about right and left, and much more.

INTERESTING FACTS

Reasons taken from Wikipedia:
1. A person can be "compensatory" left-handed due to some kind of brain damage, more often - his left hemisphere. Activity right hand is mainly regulated by the left hemisphere and therefore in case of injury (may be birth) or illness, the right hemisphere can take over the corresponding functions.
2. Testosterone: According to one theory, exposure of the fetus to high doses of testosterone before birth can lead to the birth of a left-handed child. This is the Geschwind theory, named after the neurologist, Norman Geschwind, who developed it. The theory continues to evolve, in order to prove the connection more high level testosterone and the resultant right hemisphere dominance with autoimmune disorders such as dyslexia and stuttering. Dyslexia is four times more common in men than women and appears to be associated with left-handedness. As a speech therapist, I note that even if a left-hander was born without stuttering, retraining can lead to it.
3. Ultrasound Theory: A popular theory that ultrasound examinations can affect the brains of unborn children. The theory has a very limited application (only in humans and only in developed countries in the last few decades) and cannot explain or predict anything.
4. The evolutionary theory of asymmetry by V. A. Geodakyan: right-handedness and left-handedness are not a pathology, but normal, adaptive phenotypes for a stable and changeable environment that regulate the behavioral plasticity of society.
5. Archaeological evidence suggests that, after initially using both hands equally (symmetry), there was an asymmetry towards a preference for using the right hand.
6. In 2008, British scientists found the "left-handed gene." The LRRTM1 gene plays a key role in the formation of speech and emotions.
7. In 2012, Canadian researcher S. Coren found that those who prefer writing with the left hand are more likely to be born in late marriages than young parents.

I am the only left-hander in my family on both sides. When I started to take a spoon in my left hand as a child, my parents did not shift it to my right hand and swear at me, for which I am very grateful to them. At the university, during a streaming lecture, it turned out that I was the only one out of 100 people "left-handed in all respects" and still the only one in the family, the teacher suggested a violation intrauterine development, although I have no more "deviations".
Wikipedia further states that "left-handers are most common among identical twins, people with sexual disabilities, and some groups of people with neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Down's syndrome, autism, mental retardation and dyslexia." As a defectologist, I note that if a child has the above violations, then left-handedness can be caused by concomitant pathologies of the brain, and it will be a drop in the ocean of everything else and will not cause obvious inconvenience.
The fact that left-handed people are still alive and, after the abolition of retraining, are increasing in numbers does not allow us to say that left-handedness is one of the criteria of natural selection. But there is artificial selection which seriously interferes with our lives. About 2,500 left-handed people die every year due to the use of right-handed items. The world is indeed meant for right-handed people, but manufacturers of goods in recent times this factor is also beginning to be taken into account: pens, rulers, computer mice for left-handers are actively entering the market.
But the question that hinders me most of all is: "How do you write like that with your left hand?" I'm also wondering how you write with your right? ;)

Standard tests for determining left-handedness: applause, crossing the arms over the chest, picking up the fingers in the castle. After performing each pose, see which hand is on top - it will be dominant. If you are left-handed, it is possible that you have been retrained and there are two options: start learning to write with your left hand and correct the handwriting of your right hand. The latter can be done by buying prescriptions for children and diligently deducing hooks) If you are right-handed, then prescriptions for correcting handwriting are not canceled and I can assume violations fine motor skills fingers. Exercises for the development of the latter are on the Internet in huge number.

Reply

Thanks for the tests, this is the first time I hear about them, they are very useful information. However, you misunderstood me. I know that I am left-handed, I am sure of it, and all my life I prefer the left. It's just that when I heard about dyslexia, I thought I found an explanation for my "handicapped" writing. I would like to note that I did not notice any of the other symptoms listed.

90% of the population is made up of people whose dominant hand is the right. However, there is still a certain percentage of left-handers. In most physiological and psychological features they are the same people as the rest. However, it is widely accepted by scientists that the brain of left-handed people works a little differently than that of right-handed people.

According to Ronald Yeoh, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, the governing hand is determined in the womb, since it is during this period that the basic mechanisms of the body are formed in the child. To find out why people who write with their left hand are so special, the list of facts listed below will help you.

Genes are not always to blame

Oddly enough, heredity is responsible for the birth of a left-handed family in only 25%. Much more often, children copy character traits, physiological characteristics, and even the level of intelligence from their parents. It has been observed that if two identical twins develop in the womb, they may well be born with different dominant hands. Although in all other respects the kids will be similar to each other.

It all depends on the course of the pregnancy.

Once upon a time, British scientists conducted an experiment, as a result of which it was found out that which hand the child will be dominant depends on the emotional state expectant mother. According to statistics, most left-handers are born to women who were psychologically depressed or experienced severe stress during pregnancy. In addition, the chances of asymmetric hand dominance increase with childbirth in old age, as well as in babies with a large body weight.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that this phenomenon also depends on the environment. So, if the faces of the expectant mother are more often touched with the left hand, then it is likely that the baby will not be right-handed.

It is more common in twins

Speaking of twins: they are far from rare cases when one child turns out to be left-handed. Scientists have repeatedly proven that twins often turn out to be not just copies of each other, but a mirror image. For example, if one of the children has a mole on his face, then the other will most likely have the same, only on the opposite side.

Of all twins born in the world, about 21% end up with different dominant hands. Left hemisphere dominant individuals are twice as common in twins than in the general population.

Noticeable advantage in sports

If you play tennis, boxing, or anything else where arm movement plays an important role, you can be sure that this feature will be an advantage. So, most athletes work out the technique, adapting to the partner. If one of the opponents turns out to be left-handed, then this will put the second into a stupor. Asymmetry will confuse the athlete, as it will be difficult for him to predict the actions of the opponent.

By the way, some lefties are almost perfect with both hands. In this case, they can become real champions in sports, constantly changing the tactics of their movements during the competition.

Not an ounce more creativity

Since the end of the last century, there has been a rumor that left-handers have innate inclinations for non-standard thinking. In other words, society says that people with a non-standard dominant hand are more inclined towards creativity than right-handed people. Modern research completely refute this theory and prove that it is nothing more than a myth. Scientists have found that creativity is inherent in every person and depends only on the ability and desire to develop it. So without enthusiasm it is impossible to form creative thinking in yourself, and it doesn’t matter whether you are left-handed or right-handed.

Risk of developing mental disorders

If everything is in order with the physiology of lefties, then emotional condition they may be slightly unbalanced. Such people are much more likely to be diagnosed with manifestations of dyslexia, inattention, hyperactivity, and even depressive disorders. The following can also be added to the unpleasant moments: about 40% of patients with schizophrenia are left-handed. Of course, the situation is not inspiring, but all these are statistics derived by experts in the field of medicine.

Possible decline in school performance

In 2009, a study was conducted among children under 11 years of age. In the course of it, it was found that babies who operate with their left hand are less amenable to educational process than right-handers. They showed poor performance in reading and working with dictionaries, as well as in writing. Particular problems arise in children who equally control both the right and left hands. This forces them to choose.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the left hemisphere functions just as well. It's just that a child, as a rule, needs to get used to learning. If the kid tries, then after a few years he catches up with his classmates in academic performance and can even get ahead of them.

Are left-handed people prone to alcoholism?

In fact, this is nothing more than another "duck". Two versions of this myth roam among the people. The first seems more plausible: Left-handers tend to crave alcohol because they use both hemispheres of the brain. Although this opinion is completely not substantiated by any facts. The second version is more of a joke. It says that left-handed people want to drink because they are not like everyone else. Naturally, none of the proposed options is true.

Well, in fact, it's not so important - a left-handed person or a right-handed person. The main thing is that he feels comfortable and confident.