Scientists at the University of Birmingham have found that left-handed people’s entire view of the world is different. The reasons for this lie in the two hemispheres of the brain, which produce a different image. The scientists have made clear the perceptual differences between the right-handed and left-handed people. For example, right-handed people judge with the right hemisphere of the brain to see the whole picture. But when details are viewed from it, the left brain is activated.
Differences in use
For left-handed people, it is the other way around. But not only perception, but also other activities such as language or reading function, according to the researchers, are dependent on this fact. For example, 95 percent of right-handers but only 70 percent of left-handers use the left hemisphere of the brain for language processes.
Different hemispheres of the brain
Our brain is made up of two sides – the left and right hemispheres. As we develop from infants to adults, these hemispheres become more specialized and take on different tasks.
- The left hemisphere specializes in logical thinking, it also controls detailed perception and is the seat of the speech center.
- The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for creativity and perception of the big picture. It thinks holistically and intuitively and also controls perceptions, emotions and imagination.
In left-handed people, the right, creative hemisphere of the brain is better developed and therefore more dominant. Probably because of this, left-handed people are more often found in creative professions.
Left-handedness is not a flaw
Left-handed people – the proportion of the total population is estimated at least ten percent. Thank goodness left-handed people today no longer have to defend themselves against retraining to the right hand and disadvantages in the profession. Nevertheless, there are always difficulties for left-handers in everyday life. Who does not believe it, should try as a right-hander once to open a can with the left hand, to write unstrained left or simply to cut with the left hand with a pair of scissors. That does not go simply times so “with the left”.
Do not retrain left-handers!
Left-handedness is just as good as right-handedness – you can’t teach left-handers that early and often enough. Left-handed children begin to touch everything with their left hand first at the age of grasping. It is important for parents not to influence the preferred use of one hand from the beginning.
Re-educating a left-handed child to use the right hand can have serious consequences for the child: Problems at school such as concentration difficulties, reading and spelling difficulties, and even speech disorders or bedwetting have been described. It becomes particularly critical when a child stutters or is even hyperactive.
The reason: If a left-handed child is forced to always use the right hand, the dominant right hemisphere of the brain is constantly underchallenged and the weaker left hemisphere is overchallenged. The consequences are serious and can negatively influence the whole life. Consequential damage such as inferiority complexes and psychosomatic complaints are thus pre-programmed.
Risk of left-handedness?
Researchers have also concluded that left-handed people are more prone to allergies, autoimmune diseases, depression, drug addiction, epilepsy, schizophrenia and sleep disorders. Other researchers assume that left-handed people also have poorer spatial abilities and are therefore more prone to accidents. But the study, published in the scientific journal The Lancet, dispelled a prejudice: left-handed people do not die earlier.
Small test
Why don’t you clap your hands before you read on?
Observe now which hand is down with you. As a rule, left-handed people clap their left hand on the resting right hand, while right-handed people hold their hands just the other way around.
Known left-handers
Left-handed people are in good company. This is also shown by the following list of prominent left-handers: Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Marylin Monroe, Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Paul McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, Sir Peter Ustinov, Martina Navratilova, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton.
