Left-handed child. Psychological Features - Psychologist

The very first links on the Internet say that only one in seven or eighth people is left-handed. The trouble is that they are rather difficult to count, identify and isolate, since many left-handers disguise themselves as right-handers, some are actually not left-handed, but bisexual ... that is, we wanted to write "ambidexters".

It is especially troublesome to identify immigrants from the USSR: Soviet education obliged teachers to retrain left-handers into right-handers at all costs (although many teachers, physiologists and psychologists were categorically against this practice). As a result, those left-handers, of whom the USSR brought up partial right-handers, now work with both hands, have a terrible handwriting, feel mentally unbalanced and hate Soviet pedagogy. The bullying of left-handed children in the USSR stopped only in 1986.

We will assume that a left-handed person is someone who from birth performs basic operations (food, computer, drawing, shaving, murder) with his left hand. Although in life, even a hardcore fanatical left-hander can delegate some actions with great pleasure to his right hand.

Therefore, attempts to count, for example, all genius left-handed guitarists are doomed to failure. Yes, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix and in the photos flaunt with left-handed tools at the ready. However, the reality is that the majority of left-handed guitarists play and pose like right-handers because it’s easier to learn and easier to find the right instrument.

It is as easy as shelling pears to identify a left-handed person without beating and interrogating with a soldering iron: sharply ask him to put his hands in a "lock", that is, to interlace the fingers of both hands. For right-handers, the thumb of the right hand is at the top, for left-handers - the thumb of the left. Surely there are exceptions to the method, so if it didn't work, and the left-hander doesn't confess, you can proceed to the soldering iron.

There is a basic theory that right-handers have a better left brain hemisphere, while left-handers have a better right. We, left-handers, are deeply pleased to realize this, since our right hemisphere is cooler. Well, judge for yourself.

The left hemisphere (the favorite hemisphere of all right-handers there) is responsible for:

Speech, writing, learning, reception, analysis, processing and memorization of incoming data (linguistic, mathematical, etc.), well, and for moving the right half of the body;

the right hemisphere (the favorite hemisphere of us wonderful left-handers) is responsible for:

Intuition, processing of imaginative information, spatial orientation, musicality, metaphors, imagination, emotions, multithreaded thinking, movements with the right limbs and - oh shit - for sex too!

In other words, right-handers are born accountants, managers and soldiers. And left-handers are writers, artists, musicians, bloggers, filmmakers, porn stars, poets, and alcoholics. The question remains: who are you with?

At the same time, left-handers can calmly make their way to the very top in areas that are infinitely far from creativity.

The most famous modern US presidents are left-handed: Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Yes, yes, blacks also have a solid, pumped right hemisphere of the brain. Why is there Obama! All of us are also left-handed and a little negro.

But the ill-fated President Nixon is a dull right-hander. Who would doubt that!

There are persistent rumors in journalistic circles that Vladimir Putin, whom you know very well, is probably a hidden left-hander. It is possible that here we are talking about the same retrained Soviet schoolchild, which was mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Another instructive list: Guy Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Jeanne D'Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro and Mahatma Gandhi are left-handed.

Adolf Hitler is right-handed.

Think again: who are you with?

The topic of actors, musicians, directors and artists is even reluctant to raise: their darkness, and we have an article here, not a telephone directory. It's enough just to be observant. Nothing confuses you in the shot below with?

By the way, this shot is missing, which is also left-handed. But we have collected a million more interesting shots. See how gracefully Scarlett Johansson signs autographs with her left paw.

Very curious are the benefits left-handers get in sports. Moreover, even at first glance, they are not obvious. For example, two of the greatest footballers of the last century - Pele and Maradona - are left-handed. Now do you understand what Maradona meant at God's hand?

Football is actually a symmetrical sport, and the special talents of left-handers Pele and Maradona can be attributed to coincidence (albeit a bit too, oh, too suspicious).

Boxing, fencing, tennis are those sports where it is generally accepted to consider left-handedness as a special advantage.

Because a right-hander, by definition, rarely encounters a left-hander in the arena, and he has many times less experience of confrontation against left-handers than left-handers against right-handers. In almost all sports where there are such martial arts and fights, the number of successful left-handers is many times greater than the statistical norm.

So, when humanity after the third world war again falls to the level of cave monkeys, left-handers will win much more often in fights for the title of leader. And the planet will be ruled by lefties!

The apocalypse, of course, is wonderful, but do we, left-handers, have any advantages over right-handers in everyday life?

Let's take the simplest and most understandable thing that exists in our world - a computer. Imagine that the mouse is not on the right, but on the left of the keyboard. And you play Fallout / Starcraft / Dota / CounterStrike - anything that requires a mouse and keyboard to be used at the same time. So, for right-handers, by default, buttons are assigned somewhere in the bowels of the keyboard - like WASD. At the same time, a left-handed person, as a free and advanced person, can put his hand on much more comfortable buttons - arrows and numpad.

By the way, statistically speaking, there has always been an unusually high concentration of left-handers among video game champions. However, analysts also explain this by the psychophysical advantages of left-handers, such as: the ability to concentrate consciousness on a multitude of objects and easily act intuitively (as soon as the left-hander's head sounds: "Use power, Luke").

Marketing and logistics experts have calculated that left-handers are much faster at shopping in crowded hypermarkets. And this is because they inspect the shelves and collect goods in the wrong direction, and as a result, they have to push less and stand in lines less.

Scientists have shown in fairly simple experiments that, given the same initial conditions, left-handers often act differently from right-handers. For example, if a group of subjects are asked to choose the left or right picture, right-handers mostly choose the right one, and left-handers choose the one on the left. It would seem a trifle, but on its basis one can draw far-reaching conclusions - for example, for whom the left-handers and the right-handers will vote, depending on the design of the ballot.

Thus, if 10-15 beautiful girls apply for you at once, lined up in a row, then the one who knows which hand is working has good chances. Do not listen to the call of your heart, shut up the call of reason. The hand itself will choose the right girl!

What are you saying? Have 10-15 beautiful girls ever claimed you? Strange ... Although, if you're right-handed, it's understandable.

PHOTO Getty Images

Only 10-15% of all people are left-handed. The status of a minority sets a certain framework for perception: those who are somehow different from the main mass are perceived by others as inferior or, on the contrary, gifted. Then speculation begins: they are trying to retrain left-handers with all their might, then they expect outstanding successes and ingenious decisions from them. Meanwhile, today it is becoming more and more obvious that the connection between the brain and the leading hand (leg, eye, ear) is not as straightforward as it seemed before. Research shows that many of our beliefs about left-handed people still need to be adjusted.

1. Left-handers are "programmed" not only by genes

There is no unequivocal answer to the question of why some people become left-handed. It is known that genes are responsible for this feature in 25% of cases. Left-handedness is also inherited, but not as often as height or eye color. Even identical twins can sometimes have a different dominant hand. The brain can also make a choice in favor of left-handedness in the womb. For example, one theory links this developmental scenario with exposure to high doses of the male hormone testosterone. In addition, severe stress on the mother during pregnancy can cause oxygen deprivation (hypoxia), which leads to depression of the more sensitive left hemisphere.

2. Lefties are not necessarily "right-brain" people

The right and left hemispheres not only control "their" (opposite) side of the body, but also differently determine how we process information, solve problems and respond to stimuli. It used to be thought that most right-handers use the left hemisphere of the brain for speech-related tasks, while left-handers have a speech center in the right hemisphere. But further studies did not reveal a clear trend: linguistic left hemispheres were observed in 88% of right-handers and 78% of left-handers. Only 7% of left-handers had a pronounced right-hemispheric language activity 1. “Most left-handed people use the same language zones as right-handers,” says Gina Grimshaw, a neuroscientist at the University of Wellington, New Zealand. - As for such functions as attention, emotions, perception, we have no data to make generalizations. But left-handers definitely don't have the "upside-down" brains that some think. "

3. Left-handedness is not a sign of creative thinking and high intelligence

You can often hear that left-handedness comes “bundled” with extraordinary abilities. But, according to Ronald Yeo, professor of psychology at the University of Texas, there is no strong evidence for this. This rumor was born in 1995, when one study found that left-handed men find more diverse and unusual ways problem solution. “There is a grain of reason in this idea, but still it cannot be said that from a left-hander you should certainly expect discoveries and breakthroughs in science or art,” says Ronald Yeoh. Neurobiologist Tatiana Akhutina agrees with him. "A neuropsychological study of gifted schoolchildren with high achievements in mathematics has shown that among them there are both pronounced right-handers and left-handers and ambidextrous."

4. Lefties are probably more emotionally sensitive

Psychologist Zhanna Lukyanchikova and her colleagues found that among gifted adolescents, left-handers and ambidexters (especially those with different eye and ear preferences) often differ elevated level anxiety, introversion and asthenia, while right-handers more often showed volitional qualities and perseverance in solving problems. In addition, in a study by psychologists at the University of Abertey (UK), left-handers were more likely to agree with statements like “I often worry about my mistakes,” “criticism really hurts me” 2. At the same time, the data obtained on a wider sample did not reveal significant differences in the temperament of right-handers and left-handers. Perhaps left-handed anxiety manifests itself precisely in stressful situations, when their abilities will be assessed by others. One way or another, this issue is not yet fully clear.

5. Lefties really see the world differently

In many languages ​​"right" also means "faithful", "just", "truthful". For left-handers, the opposite attitude is characteristic: what is on the left arouses more trust and sympathy in them. “A person with a dominant left side of the body (hand, eye, ear) will intuitively prefer those objects and images that are on the left, even if they cannot justify it,” explains Ronald Yeoh. - This effect can be observed in various life situations when you need to make a choice. For example, during voting in elections, when the names of candidates are placed on the left and right of the page, the left-hander is more likely to choose the left (if he is not familiar with them and their program). "

6. Left-handedness does not affect overall health

There have long been concerns that left-handedness is somehow related to impaired immune function and that it may be a risk factor for autoimmune disorders. The neuropathologist Norman Geschwind believed that the effects of testosterone on the fetus in the womb delayed the localization of neurons. In his opinion, this delay not only causes left-handedness, but also slows down the development of the immune system. Most of these suspicions were not confirmed, and Gershwind's theory was generally refuted. However, some diseases, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are actually more common in left-handers than in right-handers.

1 PLoS One, 2012, vol. 7, no. 4.

2 See abertay.ac.uk for details.

And left-handedness. At left-handedness dominant hand - left, not right like right-handers. At left-handedness not only the left hand is active, but also / or the left eye, ear, leg. In other words, the whole hemisphere (right) already dominates and the differences from right-handers are already quite significant.
The left hemisphere is responsible for logical and abstract thinking, since the information is processed by it sequentially, the right one perceives information at once, through holistic perception, and an image is immediately formed. For right-handers, the left hemisphere is leading, it is more than left-handed inherent logic, self-control. Distinctive feature left-handed is imaginative thinking, high level of intuition, strong emotionality and sensitivity.

"Clean" right-handers and left-handed in the world there are very few, approximately 8-11%. Other individuals– mixed (partial) types. Or right-handed with features left-handed or left-handed with features right-handed, more often right-handed or left-handed (below in the article there is a test for left-handedness). Individuals in whom both the right and left hemispheres can be active are called ambidextrous... The brightest representative ambidextrous – Leonardo da Vinci.
Lefty become by genetic reasons or with an excess of testosterone during pregnancy, as well as due to a slowdown in the development of the left hemisphere in utero, then the right one takes over all the functions of the left. This compensatory left-handedness. Left-handed can become due to injury to the right hand– this is a forced left-handedness.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE LEFT

Lefty life in Russia until recently was very difficult. An undeservedly disdainful attitude towards them developed back in the days of serfdom. All tools were adapted for right-handers. No wonder that left-handed often crippled themselves and others under such working conditions. Had a chance to retrain left-handed in right-handers. Left-handedness at the same time, it disappeared, but the brain had an increased load, because during retraining it had to work unnaturally. Our contemporaries left-handed, whose childhood was in the USSR, can tell a lot of horror stories about how they were tied left hand accustoming left-handed child write right. Such fanaticism began to disappear in the USSR with the beginning of perestroika. In 85 of the 20th century, the Ministry of Health passed a decree prohibiting teaching left-handed write with your right hand and lower your handwriting and tilt scores. Now left-handedness and left-handedness in our country, the same version of the norm, as well as right-handedness. Despite this, left-handed face a number of problems using technology that is tailored for right-handed people.
Lefthandedness and left-handedness can be defined for certain in 4-5 years. Before that, children can experiment with their hands, taking objects with their right or left. It is important for a parent not to insist on the work of any particular hand. The dominant hemisphere will choose who the child is: right-handed, or left-handed, or ambidextrom(a person whose right and left hemispheres can be equally active).© The author of the article you are reading now, Nadezhda Khramchenko /

However, observant parents notice differences in their left-handed children from other children, even before determining the dominant hand. Left-handed children subtle in emotions, sensitive, kind-hearted, very emotional, they act and think outside the box and are creative in playing. All this is due to the increased work of the right hemisphere. But at the same time, they have low self-control of emotions, they often (not always) find it difficult to adapt to kindergarten and at school, since a large team with fixed, strict rules of life is more suitable for left brains than for impulsive and spontaneous left-handed... Modern culture is focused on people who are dominated by the left hemisphere. And in such circumstances left-handed - "white crows". Against the background of right-handed people, they sharply stand out for their original vision of things, thinking that goes beyond the usual framework, vulnerability, heightened sense of justice, compassion. At the same time, they are more than right-handers inherent in emotions with a sign«-»: intemperance of feelings with elements of anger, increased anxiety, fearfulness, severe embarrassment, timidity, conscientiousness, sensitivity to injustice. A special problem for left-handed which they encounter in childhood– orientation in space (the left hemisphere is responsible for this function, which in left-handed inferior to the right). Kids can crash into doors, jambs, walls; older children often have images in drawings crawling over each other. Parents of such children are often worried about their attraction to mirror writing and drawing at school. Their treasures can be written in reverse (from the last to the first letter in a word) and / or from bottom to top, from right to left. You can cope with this difficulty if you highlight the first letter of the word in the copy in red and use the arrows to indicate the direction in which to move further to write the word, while the light of the lamp should fall from the right. By the way about the arrows. Do not be surprised if your child is confused with the timing of the arrows. Clock with hands– invention of right-handers and for left-handed it is rather difficult to determine the time in childhood by them.
Have left-handed it is more difficult for children than for right-handers to develop skills of activity. Later than most, they begin to eat and dress on their own. If small left-handed gets tired, it can become uncontrollable or crying, with strong feelings– conflicted and restless. It is advisable to ensure that the child gets enough rest and does not suffer from overload. Nadezhda Kryazheva in her book"We rejoice together" excellent exercises for preschoolers and younger students to develop self-regulation and relieve emotional stress.

ADVANTAGES OF LEFT

Lefties live in the world of right-handers, their distinctive feature– flexibility (gain from the fact that they constantly have to adapt). Humanity has evolved with the right hand and left hemisphere, and the culture is right-handed. Lefties to survive in modern society, connect unique reserves: they rely not on logic and abstract thinking, but on images and feelings. The products of their activity are peculiar and inimitable, have a special value, bear the imprint of the individuality of their author.
Sports coaches appreciate left-handed in team sports. There are many champions in fencing, boxing, tennis left-handed.
Left-handed children they are much ahead of right-handers in the development of the emotional sphere and are easier to adapt to harsh climatic conditions.
An incredible dignity that left-handed it is important not to neglect– the depth and richness of the emotional world. That is why, for left-handed the glory of gifted people has long been entrenched. In fact, it is easy for them to achieve success in the arts because of their strong imagination and imaginative thinking, especially in music, theater and in those areas where creativity is needed.
Lefties non-standard, but very often, with the right approach to their development and upbringing, talented people, every fifth genius– left-handed.

HOW TO DEVELOP AND RAISE LEFT CHILDREN

Lefties are very sensitive to assessments, you need to maintain their self-confidence (of course, not to self-confidence). Forbidden to compare left-handed with anyone. If you cannot do without comparisons, then compare left-handed child With myself. Tell him that the results he has achieved today are much higher than yesterday's. In performing daily activities left-handed use the brain very intensively, so parents need to pay them three times more attention than other children, monitor their emotional state, especially since emotions– a major indicator of a child's mental well-being. It is very useful for them to do modeling, origami, drawing with paints, especially fingers, pastels and colored sand, etc.
It is categorically unacceptable to retrain left-handed – this is a violation of his mental nature and is fraught with the emergence of a stream of diseases and a decrease in life expectancy. It is also impossible to teach to write with a right inclination and demand from him to write without separation. Letters left-handed it is better to write straight without tilting.
In development left-handed it is important to focus on reinforcing his creativity, not to frame him when he creates. However, it is important to observe the regime, to be more often on fresh air, teach discipline, but not using edifications and orders, but advising. If you are a hard parenting supporter, do without intimidation. WITH left-handed it can easily lead to anxiety neurosis. But if you try to get along with them good relationship and to be their friend, they will do a lot for you. Baby– yoga in the morning (search the internet for exercises by age) is excellent discipline and organization. If you invite your child to imagine himself as an object or animal with which they are doing all these manipulations, he will be fun and interesting to do the exercises. It is important to avoid routine during developmental and educational activities. Use this principle well« Down with RUTIN with FANTASY!», if school difficulties arise, because where the imagination is actively working and originality can be maximized, left-handed comfortable and good.
When teaching, it is advisable to actively use visual aids, drawings, diagrams, forming vivid images in the child. Lefty it will be much less tired and it will be better and with pleasure to study if you introduce additional classes in the form of master classes, experiments, visiting interactive museums, theaters. School education focuses on auditory and visual perception(lectures, reading) students. Learning efficiency left-handed will increase significantly if you connect all the modalities of his senses: touch, smell, hearing, taste, vision. Why not study geography or history while cooking with your parents the National dish and getting acquainted with the traditions of peoples, gradually going out to school topics. Reading / literature can be comprehended in the theater by attending a performance based on a work that is now being held in school.© The author of the article you are reading now, Nadezhda Khramchenko /

The human body is a big mystery for the person himself.

Who is left-handed? This is a person who is dominated by the right half of the brain.

Usually, one half of the brain dominates, and there is a crossover, i.e. right half human body controls the left hemisphere, and the left - the right. Scientists have identified the degree of dominance: strongly expressed (“one hundred percent” right-handed or pronounced left-handed) and weakly expressed (there may be 1-2 signs of “left-handedness” - the leading left eye and left ear, but the leading hand is the right).

And people, the so-called ambidextra, for whom both hemispheres work in the same way, they are equally good at using both hands, ears, eyes, i.e. paired organs. There are few such people, but, according to research by scientists, their number is constantly growing.

How to find out what type a person is? Below are the tests, but for now - general characteristics.

If a person is “100%” right-handed, he has the following symptoms:

Writes and performs most actions, especially difficult ones, with the right hand

Places the telephone receiver to the right ear

Leading eye, ear - right

The leading leg is also right (it is jogging, a person starts to walk from it)

If at least one of these signs has a mirror image (with the leading right hand, the left ear hears better, for example), this is a more (or less) pronounced left-hander. Scientists call such people “hidden left-handers”.

Scientists who have conducted research to identify explicit and hidden left-handers, found that such people - 62%! Those. more than a half healthy people! Although the percentage of left-handers-right-handers is slightly different among different researchers, it still turns out that left-handers make up about half of the total population.

Most people are "partial" left-handed (ie, the dominant hand is the left, and the dominant eye, for example, the right).

In young children, latent left-handedness, clear signs of the leading right hemisphere, are observed much more often than in adults. Also, children are often equally good at using both the left and right hands, i.e. are ambidextrous. It is believed that up to a year the basis for the development of the brain is laid, and the leading hemisphere is formed by the age of 6-7 years, but already at 4 years old we can confidently say which hand the baby has leading.

What are the hemispheres "responsible for"?

The left hemisphere is responsible for logical, analytical, abstract thinking. Responsible for speech (approximately 50% according to the latest research).

The right hemisphere processes information at the same time (i.e. left-handers and ambidexters cope with tasks faster when testing). Takes part in adaptation processes. Responsible for emotions, intuitive abilities, “helps” to understand humor, is responsible for spatial-visual functions (orientation on the ground). Very musical, sensitive to intonation. Responsible for imaginative thinking, imagination, creativity.

Any activity “is divided between the cerebral hemispheres so that some stages are performed with the right, and others with the left, ie. the cerebral hemispheres work in close interaction, complement each other.

What problems do left-handed and ambidextrous children have (both hemispheres work the same way).

Learning to write and read and write is designed for right-handed children, stringent requirements (putting a notebook horizontally with a slight tilt, holding a pen in a certain way, etc.) prevent children who are wrong from developing fully, assimilation of information is impaired, handwriting is impaired, and grammatical errors occur.

Often, at the beginning of mastering writing skills, children depict letters, numbers in a mirror (“E” and “Z”, “6” and “9”, etc.) This suggests that the child has not yet fully formed the distribution of functions of the hemispheres, over time, mistakes will disappear, you should not be afraid of them and fight for “correctness”.

Usually, such children draw well, are gifted musically, but with writing and reading until about the age of 9 and (each individually) problems arise.

Often left-handed people have a delay speech development, incorrect pronunciation of sounds, but this goes away as we grow older.

Lefties often dislike exact sciences, but not because they are not interested or difficult. It's just that school education is built taking into account the peculiarities of the perception of right-handers, in left-handed children learn the educational material in a slightly different way.

Such children have well-developed intuition, imaginative thinking, but the logic is “lame”.

Do not retrain your child - left-handed!And do not let other adults (teachers, educators, relatives) do this!

Left-handed children who have been persistently retrained develop neurosis, here are some of its manifestations:

Sleep disturbances, appetite disorders, headaches, fears, day and night enuresis, lethargy, lethargy, blurred vision.

Most common in left-handed children school age asthenic neurosis is observed. Its signs are: increased fatigue, a sharp decrease in working capacity, the child can work productively and actively only in the first two lessons, then motor disinhibition increases. Children constantly complain of fatigue, they are lethargic. Preparation of lessons is delayed, rewriting only worsens the quality of the work.

What if the child has already tried to retrain or retrained, and now the left-hander is forced to write with his right hand?

Take your time to change your hand, especially if the retraining began long before school and the child is already in school, using mainly his right hand. In this case, you will have to come to terms with some lag. overall development, as a rule, after the 1st grade everything is getting better (in the absence of pressure from adults).

But in a situation where a child stubbornly works with his left hand, despite retraining, permission to use it can remove many problems.

If a child has been retrained, uses his right hand, but is not yet at school or has just begun learning, changing hands will also lead to solving and preventing many problems.

LEFT, RIGHT OR AMBRIDEXTR?

Tests

One child is tested to rule out monkey behavior. The tests are carried out several times at intervals (especially with children), and a conclusion is made based on the cumulative results.

Interlace your fingers in a “lock”. If the finger of the right hand is on top, it is a sign of a right-handed person.

Take the Napoleon Pose (arms crossed over chest). The hand that turned out to be on top is the leading one.

Applause. Right-handers slap their right hand on the motionless left palm, left-handers - vice versa. Children usually applaud with both palms placed parallel to each other - a sign of ambidextrous, also applies to adults who applaud with both hands.

The person usually gestures with the dominant hand.

The subject is given 2 pencils, blindfolded and asked to draw two circles or squares. The drawing made by the leading hand turns out to be more accurate, while the movements of the leading hand can be slower, but more accurate, less jitter, lines are sharper, corners are not smoothed. The kid can also try to complete this task with open and closed eyes.

If the child already knows how to write, ask him to write his name at the same time with both hands, eyes open or closed. As a rule, left-handers put both hands in the center of the sheet and begin to write with the right hand from left to right, and with the left - from right to left. With closed eyes, left-handers write their last name in the mirror, and with open eyes, as usual.

The child is offered several boxes. Assignment: "find a match in one of the boxes." The leading hand is the one that performs active actions (opens, closes, reaches, etc.)

Cutting with scissors. It turns out more accurately with the leading hand.

To identify the leading leg, watch how the person sits, if, when throwing one leg over the top, it turns out to be the right one - it is the leading one. When walking, the lead foot takes a wider stride.

To determine the leading eye, invite the child to look through a small hole (in a camera, in a piece of paper, etc.). The first step is to put the dominant eye on the hole.

Ambidextra, performing tests, give confusion. Such people can write with their right hand, listen with their left ear, eat with their left hand, etc.

Lefties are unique people, and no one doubts it. They make up 10% of the world's population, but sometimes it seems that they are forgotten: remember all the "right-handed" gadgets, not for everyone conveniently assembled desks, as well as cutlery that are designed for right-handed use.

What are the reasons for a person's “left-handedness”?

Scientists do not give an exact answer to this question, but studies indicate a close relationship between genetics and the external environment of a person. There is no exact data on the presence of “left-handed” genes in a person, but there is confirmation of the fact that left-handers usually have more “left-handed” relatives than right-handers. In addition, scientists have found differences in the structure of the cerebral hemispheres in left-handers and right-handers.

It doesn't matter what makes people use their left hand predominantly - tireless researchers have discovered a number of qualities that are unique to left-handers.

We bring to the attention of all left-handers, as well as right-handers with habits of "left-handedness" and "equal-handed" (or with the function of ambidexterity).

Overview of facts and myths about lefties

1. Lefties are more prone to mental disorders

Lefties make up 10% of the population. However, according to research data, this indicator is higher in the group of people with mental disorders. Recent studies have shown that 20% of people prone to mental illness prefer to use their left hand.

Researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas examined 107 patients in outpatient mental health clinics. In the group with mild disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, 11% were left-handed. However, in the group with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, the percentage of left-handers reached 40%. Scientists believe that in this case, hemispheric asymmetry matters.

2. Health may depend on a more developed hand

According to a study published in 2010 in the journal Pediatrics, left-handers are more susceptible to dyslexia (inability to learn to read and write), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and several other neurological disorders. Researchers cannot explain this phenomenon, but they associate it with the interaction of neural connections in the human brain. The human brain has two hemispheres: left and right. Most people (both right-handed and left-handed) use the left hemisphere to master speech.

However, about 30% of left-handed people either partially use the right hemisphere, or do not have a dominant hemisphere at all. According to scientists, it is important that only one hemisphere is dominant, which is why left-handed people can experience similar mental disorders.

But the left-handers are more fortunate in the rest. Lefties are at a lower risk of developing arthritis or ulcers, according to a study published in the journal Laterality.

3. Lefties perceive speech differently

According to a study by Georgetown University Medical Center, left-handers are easier to perceive fast-changing sounds than right-handers.

The researchers found that the left and right hemispheres respond differently to different sounds. The left hemisphere, which controls the right hand, is responsible for recognizing rapidly alternating sounds like consonants, while the right hemisphere, which controls the left hand, is responsible for recognizing intonation modulations and slowly alternating sounds, like vowels.

If you believe the researchers, then when you wave a flag during a ceremonial speech of a politician, his speech will be perceived by you differently depending on which hand you hold the flag in.

This study can be of valuable assistance in the treatment of stuttering or speech disorders.

4. And in the primitive age, left-handers were in the minority

"Right-handedness" is not a trend of our time: a person used his right hand more confidently than his left, even more than 500 thousand years ago.

Researchers at the University of Kansas recently identified "handiness" ancient man on his jaw (which sounds pretty weird, doesn't it?). The study, published in the journal Laterality, showed that when our great-great-great - well, you get the idea - great-grandfathers processed animal skins, they held one edge of the hide with their hand and the other with their teeth. By analyzing the wear and tear of prehistoric jaws, scientists were able to determine which hand our ancestors used most actively. “One tooth is enough to determine whether a person is left-handed or right-handed,” researcher David Freyer told LiveScience magazine.

And what is the verdict?

"Prehistoric beings, like modern humans, used primarily their right hand."

5. Lefties are more sophisticated and artistic

Lefties have proudly claimed to be more creative than right-handers for years. But is this true? Does being left-handed really mean being more creative and proactive?

According to a study published in the American Journal of Psychology, left-handers do have at least one creative advantage: they have better divergent thinking - a way of thinking in which different decisions are generated in the brain at the same time.

The Left-Handers Club surveyed more than 2,000 left-handers, right-handers, and people with equal hands to determine how much lefties are more successful than right-handers. careers in arts, music, sports, and information technology.

6. Vote for left-handers!

It turns out that it does not matter whether our politicians are "right" or "left": unexpectedly, the highest percentage of US presidents adhere to the "left" side - not in terms of politics, of course.

The list of left-handed presidents has been pretty impressive. Let's take as an example at least the last four of the seven US commanders-in-chief - Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Gerald Ford (and remember, in addition, James Garfield and Harry Truman). It was rumored that Ronald Reagan was born left-handed, but at school, strict teachers retrained him to be right-handed. Is it possible to assume that right-handed presidents are simply pretending to be left-handed?

The growing number of left-handed presidents is likely a coincidence. However, evidence from a recent study by Dutch academics suggests that left-handed politicians have a distinct advantage in televised debates. Can you guess why? Usually simple people associate gestures with the right hand as "correct gestures", "gestures of kindness." Since the television broadcast works as a mirror image, gesturing with the left hand in the viewer's eyes is displayed as movements in positive side(in the "direction of good").

7. Lefties win in sports

Golf legend Phil Mickelson, tennis star Rafael Nadal, boxing champion Oscar de la Goya - you have no idea how many of our sports favorites are left-handed!

According to the book by Rick Smits "The Versatility of the World of Left-handers", left-handers really have an advantage in combat sports. But only on condition of one-on-one competition. For right-handers, the opponent's “left-handedness” is often a surprise that they are not ready for: for the most part, this applies to tennis, boxing and baseball.

8. Lefties get scared more often

According to the British Society of Psychology, left-handers are more susceptible to fear than right-handers.

Under the terms of the study, participants watched an 8-minute episode of The Silence of the Lambs. After watching, left-handers showed more signs of PTSD than right-handers, and made more mistakes in describing what they saw.

"It turns out that left-handers after experiencing stress (even if the stressful situation was in the movie) behave the same way as people after post-traumatic stress disorder," - said the head of researchers Caroline Chowdgerry. She believes that the reasons lie in brain activity. that the two hemispheres of the brain respond differently to stress, and the right hemisphere responds more to the factor of fear. However, more research is required before any definitive statement can be made, "she adds.

9. Lefties get angry more

If you have disagreements with your "right-handed" partner (he may be right in many ways), your "left-handed" may be the cause. Left-handers are more prone to feeling negative emotions, besides, they already tend to worry longer and delay with reconciliation.

10. Lefties are easier to discourage

Lefties are much more self-deprecating. Researchers at the University of Abertay in Scotland examined 46 left-handers and 66 right-handers for impulsiveness and self-control. It turned out that left-handers react more painfully to statements like “I’m afraid to make a mistake” and “I am affected by criticism or ridicule.” The pool of left-handed responses led the researchers to believe that left-handers are more vulnerable, shy, and less confident than right-handers.

"Lefties tend to hesitate and hesitate, while right-handers are more decisive and reckless in their decisions and actions," researcher Lynn Wright told BBC News.

11. Left-handers are more willing to lay on the collar

The next time you are stuck in a bar with a tipsy friend, pay attention to which hand he is gripping the glass of whiskey: for sure, this hand will be the left.

It has long been believed that left-handers are more prone to alcoholism. No reliable facts or convincing evidence on this account existed. And only recently, a study conducted in 12 countries with the participation of 25 thousand people clarified the situation a little. Lefties do not make up the majority of alcoholics - however, they do drink more and more often than right-handers.

According to Kevin Denny, a left-handed alcoholism researcher published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, the main goal of the study was to debunk the myth of widespread alcoholism in left-handers. "There is no evidence that left-handers are necessarily prone to excessive alcohol consumption," he notes in an official press release. “And there is no reason to believe that excessive drinking is due to disharmony in the work of the cerebral hemispheres or stressful situations because of the social status of left-handers as a social minority. "

12. Lefties have a day of their own

Lefties around the world are celebrating this day with light hand The Left-handers Club in Great Britain became an official holiday in 1992 in order to draw attention to the peculiarities of the lifestyle of left-handers and their problems.

According to a statement on the website of the initiative group, "this holiday is the day when left-handers are proud of their" left-handedness "and try to convey to the rest of their fellow citizens all its advantages and disadvantages."

How can right-handers celebrate this day? Create an area for left-handed people: If you are in a business where a narrow left-handed line is possible - do it, design it, even if it is a small thing like office desks for left-handed employees or cutlery for the left hand.