Are Left Handed People more likely to be thinkers?

[Ignius]

I heard that switching hands (ex. using your left hand to brush your teeth) stimulates the brain in very positive ways.

[vicdan]

Do you have any references on that? It's at odds with what I know of neurology.

[Ataraxia]

Prima facie it would seem to make sense.It is exercising a different part of the brain.

[vicdan]

It makes no more sense that the notion that exercising your arms would strengthen your legs.

See, the opposite idea is just as intuitively appealing. Body skills use up neuronal space. They literally occupy certain portions of the cortex -- and the more neural processing you use for a given body part, the larger portion of the cortex is occupies (in humans, lips pretty much rule the roost in neuronal-space-per-body-part terms, IIRC). Thus, if you dedicate a lot of neural processing to training your left hand, it will likely come at the expense of something else.

Now mind you, I am not saying this is the case; I am simply pointing out there there is no obvious answer here. However, I have never before heard of this sort of neural effect, so i won't believe it until i see evidence.

[Ataraxia]

I was watching a documentary on memeory the other evening on one of the discovery channels.One of the examples they used to explain how the brain is metaphorically like a muscle, and strengthens according to extra use, was that of London taxi drivers who after having to attain 'The knowledge" and after a few years in the job developed (they claimed) an enlargened Hippocampus;the the area used for spacial navigation.

I could imagine this may not necessarily come at the expense of other parts of the brain--I don't really know,though.

[vicdan]

Brain is indeed like a muscle, in that exercising it grows new neural connections and even new neurons. The ones being exercised. That's why I find it hard to credit the supposition that, say, using your off-hand a lot will do anything for the brain but improve your off-hand coordination.

As i said, comparing this to muscles, what Ignius suggested is like saying that exercising your arms should make your leg stronger.

[Shahrazad]

As i said, comparing this to muscles, what Ignius suggested is like saying that exercising your arms should make your leg stronger.

No, it's more like saying that exercising your arm for opening doors will help make your arm stronger for swimming.

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Prima facie it would seem to make sense.It is exercising a different part of the brain.

I can't believe that Victor hasn't linked a study yet. Here's an article that reports that changing handedness results in brain damage. Based on that, it seems to follow that using the non-dominant hand excessively would encourage similar damage.

[vicdan]

As i said, comparing this to muscles, what Ignius suggested is like saying that exercising your arms should make your leg stronger.

No, it's more like saying that exercising your arm for opening doors will help make your arm stronger for swimming.

No, it's not. I know of no evidence suggesting that using your off-hand more will make your entire off-hemisphere more active. It's not that you are exercising the same neurons, but weakly; AFAICT, it's that you aren't exercising the same neurons at all. The parts of the brain responsible for motor coordination have very little to do with the parts of the brain responsible, say, for creativity.

[vicdan]

I can't believe that Victor hasn't linked a study yet. Here's an article that reports that changing handedness results in brain damage.

Ah, interesting study.

Based on that, it seems to follow that using the non-dominant hand excessively would encourage similar damage.

I didn't actually expect this, but it looks like this is indeed the case:

Consequences of Converting Handedness. The handedness of a human being is an expression of an inborn, innate lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres where one side dominates. In the neural system, the tracts are "crossed". Thus, a dominant right cerebral hemisphere results in a dominant left hand and a dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere is responsible for right-handedness [18].

Converting handedness, whether it be from a dominant left hand to a non-dominant right or the reverse, (especially during writing) does not result in a change in cerebral dominance but rather a multifaceted cerebral disturbance or damage. This functional cerebral damage (dysfunction, blockage, and inhibition of brain functioning) can then be manifest in the following primary disorders: disturbances in memory for all three areas of information processing (encoding, storage, and recall); difficulty in concentration (early fatigue); difficulty in reading and spelling (legasthenic problems); spatial disorientation (e.g. confusion of left and right); speech problems ranging from stammering to stuttering; fine motor disturbances evident in writing and other activities requiring precision.

[Tomas]

I can't believe that Victor hasn't linked a study yet. Here's an article that reports that changing handedness results in brain damage.

Ah, interesting study.

Based on that, it seems to follow that using the non-dominant hand excessively would encourage similar damage.

I didn't actually expect this, but it looks like this is indeed the case:

Consequences of Converting Handedness. The handedness of a human being is an expression of an inborn, innate lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres where one side dominates. In the neural system, the tracts are "crossed". Thus, a dominant right cerebral hemisphere results in a dominant left hand and a dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere is responsible for right-handedness [18].

Converting handedness, whether it be from a dominant left hand to a non-dominant right or the reverse, (especially during writing) does not result in a change in cerebral dominance but rather a multifaceted cerebral disturbance or damage. This functional cerebral damage (dysfunction, blockage, and inhibition of brain functioning) can then be manifest in the following primary disorders: disturbances in memory for all three areas of information processing (encoding, storage, and recall); difficulty in concentration (early fatigue); difficulty in reading and spelling (legasthenic problems); spatial disorientation (e.g. confusion of left and right); speech problems ranging from stammering to stuttering; fine motor disturbances evident in writing and other activities requiring precision.

Ah, yes .. Vic shows his soft, gentle side!

PS - That's what I like about you, you ARE open to all sides :-)

You may run for president in 2012. Since Obama (the empty suit) ain't native-born, the floodgates have been opened...

[Iolaus]

Well, I'm left-handed, so I think that settles it.
It also explains why I'm brain damaged, since I have to conform to a cruel, right-handed world.
Interesting, that the sperm donor for my children was left-handed, but his ignorant parents made him switch. He has hideous handwriting with his right hand, but is artistic and uses his left hand for drawing.

[Shahrazad]

Iolaus, my oldest daughter, who has a brain disorder, at some point switched from left-handed to right-handed. It makes me wonder if that is what caused the brain damage. Or it could have been a convulsion she had at four.

[vicdan]

Iolaus, my oldest daughter, who has a brain disorder, at some point switched from left-handed to right-handed. It makes me wonder if that is what caused the brain damage. Or it could have been a convulsion she had at four.

It's more likely that the brain problem caused the handedness switch.

[Shahrazad]

Do you have any idea why that might happen? Because she may have lost the neurons she used for her handedness?

[vicdan]

More or less, yes -- either neuron or neuronal connection loss. Either way, neuronal damage would probably be the most likely cause of the handedness switch.

[Tomas]

.


I tend to use both hands for writing, cursive right and printing left.

Anyways, it interesting that there are 8 presidents who were leftys. Almost 20%...

20 - Garfield
31 - Hoover
33 - Truman
38 - Ford
40 - Reagan (who wrote right-handed - all other tasks as a lefty)
41 - Bush
43 - Clinton
44 - Obama

PS - And Nietzsche was a lefty.

[Animus]

Check out "Learned Non Use" the brain child of Dr. Taub.

The idea is essentially that we learn to start with, a way that is easier than the alternatives, so we stick with that way and become more proficient at it, but as our proficiency in that way excels, our capacity to do things otherwise decreases.

Perhaps, in childhood we are all capable of right or left handedness, and whichever seems easier is what we stick with. Through the favouring of one hand over the other our brains adapt to serve that particular hand better and not the other. Now of course there might be some genetic predisposition to right/left handedness as well. I believe there is significant data to suggest that.

Of course, it is possible to become ambidexterous through training. Strap your left hand to your leg, so that you are forced to use your right hand and see how that works out after a week. You'll get lots of laughs trying to use your left hand while it's strapped to your leg.

[Tomas]

I use my left hand for jacking-off. Does that count?

Guess why? (Come on...)

I concur with David Quinn, your brain will turn to mush.

[Carmel]

I'm a leftie, but I have yet to prove that I'm smart as this is my first post.

The way I see it, one would have to be either intelligent or arrogant to join a group entitled "Genius Forums" ...or maybe both?!

...This is interesting group!

[Carl G]

Welcome.

Is English your first language?

[Carmel]

I have no self respect!

I caught a live one!

Yes, English is my first language, but I generally just read in here because of arrogant smartasses such as yourself. (said endearingly, of course)

[Ignius]

Welcome :)

[Ryan Rudolph]

Here is a link to a science radio show called Quirks and Quarks that is broadcasted through CBC, and one of their shows examined the topic of handedness with many scientists as guest speakers. it is a radio program that I have listened to from time to time depending on the topic of discussion.

Here is the link:
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/05-06/jun10.html

[brokenhead]

Here is a link to a science radio show called Quirks and Quarks that is broadcasted through CBC, and one of their shows examined the topic of handedness with many scientists as guest speakers. it is a radio program that I have listened to from time to time depending on the topic of discussion.

Here is the link:
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/05-06/jun10.html

Hey thanks, Ryan. If you've linked this before, I missed it. They have some nice archives.