The Brain of Left-Handed & Ambidextrous

Approximately 10% of people are left-handed, although the neurological basis of handedness is unknown. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute in Nijmegen led a multinational team that examined brain imaging and genetic data from 3,062 left-handers and 28,802 right-handers. Differences in brain asymmetry in areas related to working memory, language, hand control, and vision were linked to left-handedness. Specific genes were connected to some of these brain locations.

Left-handedness has long captivated scientists. This is due to brain asymmetry, which is the way the two brain hemispheres are specialized for separate functions. In right-handers, the left hemisphere controls the dominant right hand, but in left-handers, the position is inverted. The majority of people have left hemisphere dominance in language, but this is commonly reversed in left-handers.

Handedness in the Womb:
Around 9-10 weeks, fetuses begin to move their arms. By the end of the second trimester, the newborns clearly prefer sucking one thumb over the other. As a result, handedness is most likely programmed before birth. Nonetheless, most developmental experts believe parents won't have a strong idea of their child's dominant hand until he or she is two or three. Throughout early life, many children continue to alternate hands for various tasks.

The Brain Difference of Left-handed:
People are often surprised to learn that the brains of left-handers differ from those of right-handers. However, it is obvious that they should differ in some ways: Left-handers utilize their hands (and feet) differently than right-handers, and they do so frequently throughout their lives. It is only normal for left-handers and right-handers to have separate areas of the brain that control movement.

Left-handed Way of Thinking:
There have been numerous claims that left-handers are more creative, but there is little solid data to support this. Increased musical ability is another frequently mentioned skill that left-handers may have, however there is little evidence to support this. Many statements concerning left-handers' superior abilities are based on internet lists of famous artists. While funny, these lists span several decades of mainstream music, and you'll find (if you try) that for every left-handed guitarist on such lists, there are easily enough right-handed guitarists to match the population's average 9:1 ratio of right- and left-handers.

However, left-handed people may think differently in another way. A powerful theory is that when we see or hear the word "writing," we understand it by employing the regions of our brains that govern our own movements, as if we were writing ourselves. This concept is sometimes referred to as "embodied cognition." It was evaluated by observing activity in the left and right motor cortex (a brain region involved in movement) in left- and right-handed participants while listening to words like "writing." Left-handers stimulated the motor cortex that controls their left hand, whereas right-handers activated the motor cortex that controls their right hand - as if they were actually writing, despite merely hearing the word.

Forced Right-handedness:
Cultural prejudices against left-handed people have existed throughout history. The devil was thought to be a lefty throughout the Middle Ages. The percentage of left-handers in Japan, China, and other Asian countries is substantially lower than in the West. Teachers and doctors in the United States felt that left-handers were more prone to mental problems in the early 1900s and encouraged students to swap hands.

The opposing side of the brain controls the hand used to write with – in right-handed people, movement-related regions on the left side of the brain are more active when they move the fingers of their right hand. However, switching from left to right handed does not simply shift brain activity to the opposite side of the brain.

Ambidextrous:
Ambidextrousness, also known as ambidexterity, is sometimes known as mixed-handedness, albeit the terms are significantly different. Ambidexterity is the capacity to accomplish things competently with either hand. The tendency to use various hands for different tasks is known as mixed-handedness. It usually refers to personal choice rather than expertise. Besides injury and cultural preferences, genetics could play a role. A 2021 studyTrusted Source discovered seven gene variations connected with ambidexterity. More research, however, is required to fully comprehend these variances.