Visit our online shop for your left-handed productsResearch Into Left-Handedness And Its Effects
See our page of current lefty research and results
There has been a huge amount of research done into various aspects of left-handedness, often without much in the way of clear conclusions. We will be using this section to provide articles and links for you to see and to let you know of current research that is going on that you could possibly participate in.
If you are involved in research into left-handedness or its effects, please let us know and we will include details in this section.
We have a lot more information to go in this section, so check it again next time you visit us.
New age of genius led by left-handers! (Mar 2002)
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Evolution may be in the process of delivering a new age of genius and creativity, with left-handers leading the way. Professor Chris McManus of University College, London has been researching the subject and is about to publish a new book called Right Hand, Left Hand. He is convinced that the proportion of left-handers is rising and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers’ brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centres of the brain. |
In Britain, around 13% of men and 11% of women are now left-handed, compared to just 3% of those born before 1910. There are a number of factors driving this increase:
- Left-handers were severely discriminated against during the 18th and 19th centuries and it was often “beaten out” of people
- In adulthood, left-handers were often shunned by society, resulting in fewer marrying and reproducing
- As discrimination was reduced in the 20th century, the number of natural left-handers who stayed left-handed increased
- The rising age of motherhood contributed as, statistically, older mothers are more likely to give birth to left-handed children
The professor says that the increase could produce a corresponding intellectual advance and a leap in the number of mathematical, sporting or artistic geniuses.
Unfortunately, it is not all good news for left-handers. They tend to be over-represented at both ends of the intellectual scale and as well as geniuses the group also produces a disproportionately high number of those with learning handicaps. There have been suggestions of links between left-handedness and dyslexia, stuttering and child autism among others.
Left-Handers Club comment…
We have had a lot of anecdotal evidence of an increasing proportion of left-handers among young children and our correspondence with members supports the view that left-handers are over-represented at both the top and bottom of the learning and achievement scale.
Now that left-handedness is not actively discouraged and young left-handers can obtain basic tools like pens and scissors to allow them to learn and express themselves in their own direction, most stay as left-handers and do not have their naturally creative advantages interfered with.
We have known Professor McManus and his work for the past 10 years or so and we will give further comment on his current project when the results are published in full. We also hope that he will give us some further background and personal comments that we can pass on to our members.
The Left-Handers Club is planning a major series of surveys this year which will aim to discover which activities and occupations groups left-handers are over- and under-represented in and the factors that affect this. We will be producing further information on this and asking for assistance very soon.
Ambidextrous tendencies may mean better memory
Source: New Scientist, 22 October 2001, James Randerson
Having a close left-handed relative makes right-handers better at remembering events than those from exclusively right-handed families, new research suggests. There is a downside, however, as members of these ambidextrous families may be relatively impaired in their ability to recall facts.
According to the study, having a left-handed sibling or parent means the organisation of your brain is intermediate between a pure ‘lefty’ and a pure ‘righty’.
Specifically, Stephen Christman and Ruth Propper at the University of Toledo, Ohio claim that people with ‘lefties’ in the family have a larger corpus callosum – the connection between the brain hemispheres. This makes you better at certain memory tasks, but worse at others, they believe.
Two types of memories are involved. Episodic memories are those with a context that is separate from the information itself – for example, where you parked your car or where you left your keys. Semantic memories on the other hand are things ‘you just know’, such as the dates of the First World War or the recipe for apple pie.
Filling the gaps
The researchers showed 180 right-handed subjects lists of words. Some of this group was asked to recall as many of the words as possible once the list had been taken away. This tests episodic memory because the subjects have to remember the words they were taught.
Others from the group were given fragments of words with a letter missing and asked to fill in the gaps. This semantic test simply relies on knowing how the correct word should be spelt. Subjects with close left-handed relatives did better at the first ‘remember’ task, but worse at the second ‘know’ task.
“The key difference is not whether you are right handed, but whether you are strongly or weakly handed,” explains Christman.
Making the connection
A definitive explanation for the results is still some way off, says Christman. But he suspects that it might involve the roles that different brain hemispheres play in memory. He believes the information itself tends to be stored in the left hemisphere, while the place and time context resides in the right.
Both these components will be useful in episodic memories, so he suspects that people with a large corpus callosum linking their hemispheres – such as those from more ambidextrous families – will do better at these tasks. Semantic memory requires only one hemisphere, so it may be that those with fewer connections between the hemispheres have less interference and perform better.
Chris McManus, an expert in handedness at University College London, agrees that people with left-handed relatives have a brain that is “slightly more like that of a left-hander”.
But he is sceptical about Christman’s explanation. The link between a weak-handedness and a large corpus callosum is “distinctly controversial”, he says.
Journal reference: Neuropsychology (vol 15 (4)
Ambidextrous: The worst of both worlds?
Leading British psychiatrist Prof. Tim Crow believes he can show that ambidextrous children are less intelligent than their peers – and his theory could even shed light on schizophrenia.
Unlike our closest genetic relative the chimp – who is truly ambidextrous – humans tend to heavily favour one hand and struggle to perform simple tasks with the less favoured. Prof. Crow, of the University Oxford, believes this difference could be crucial to the evolution of humankind around 137,000 years ago. The development of a division in function between the left and right sides of the brain – which result in our tendency to be right or left-handed – was a major factor in our leap from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens.
“Handedness is the key dimension of human cerebral function,” says crow. “People who are truly ambidextrous are slower to develop verbal and non-verbal skills. It’s the predictor of both reading difficulties at the age of 16 and psychosis”.
For his study, Crow analysed data taken from 12,770 1 year old children taken in 1969 as part of the UK National Child Development Study. The children had been tested for hand preference, verbal, reading and mathematical ability. The test immediately resolved the age-old argument over whether right or left-handers are more intelligent : the answer is that there is absolutely no difference between them. What was startling was how badly ambidextrous people performed in the study – they did dramatically worse in all 3 tests. Youngsters who were extremely right or left-handed also tended to do poorly, but not as badly as the ambidextrous children.
“There seems to be an optimum level of handedness at which we perform best, although we are not sure what that is” said Crow. “Most of the variation in intelligence is to do with the degree of handedness in the child.”
Crow is aware these results may anger the parents of ambidextrous children, but he stresses that more research is needed to interpret the results fully. “The problem is that intelligence is a nebulous concept” he says. “These children may simply be late developers. Or they may be developing in a completely different way.”
Crow says that the gene responsible for encouraging specialist functions in one side of the brain, such as handedness, is what allows us to develop advanced skills, and without it the language centre of the brain would not have been able to develop. It is this development of language that differentiates us from the animals, and Crow’s research continues into pinpointing exactly which gene or group of genes this is.
The consequences of this could be controversial, since they raise the possibility that we may one day be able to manipulate the very genetic material which makes us human. However, although this gene may set us apart from the apes there appears to be a cost. Crow believes that the same genetic changes that allowed the development of language by creating imbalance in the brain also created the potential for schizophrenia. “It is the price that Homo sapiens pay for language” he says.
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when i was young i was beaten up to write with my right hand. i was born left handed and i took that from my mum…because i was beaten up now i write with my right hand and work with my left…it doesn’t matter which hand you write with…we are all unique and we shouldn’t have to suffer just because we write with a left hand…if they made me write it my right hand the teacher that beat me up should try and write with their left hand to see if she can do it…i doubt she could do it
I have an 11 year old son that is dyslexic. (by the way I am left handed). I have been finding research that states that left handedness in the family could have some type of connection. We always knew that he was smart but has always had a problem with reading and spelling. I have tried many times to convince the school that there is something causing his reading problem. They simply want to check him for ADD, which he doesn’t have. He isn’t having a problem with anything they do orally, just if he has to read. We kept him back in Kindergarten because he was not reading to a level we felt he would be able to make it through the 1st grade. I am a masters student and have 4 other older children that have no issues, what is it that could be different with him. I have tried every thing I can think of at home to make it easy for him but I feel like that is holding him back because I am simply reading for him. I know that is not necessarily a good thing but I don’t think it is fair for him to sit at a table for 3hrs doing one reading paper that should only take him 20 minutes. So I read it to him and then he does the work. The teachers don’t seem to want to help me figured out how to help him learn how to over come this problem and my research doesn’t seem to be helping me on what I should be doing to make it easier for him to read. Any information would be helpfull.
My son Dylan is 5 and he is lefthanded. He is righting allot better but some times he goes back to the mirror image. His kindergarden teacher feels. That. His read could be better. I took him for a comperensive eye exam and found that he has compound astigmatism so he is wear glasses before march is spelling tests were below good now he has brought home 100s the first one made me cry as weeks went on I sow hew was picking up more but read still is hard I read the article about lefthanedness and I mad copies to his teacher and principal and all that work with him. His brother is only 10 mounths younger and he is regestered in this years kindergarten and know I am getting him tested before he starts because this year has been hard and they both have 2years of preschool in the State of new York there is no law that States childeren have to go to kindergarten but I feel the more schooling the better that’s way I put them both in full day preschool. To get them ready for full day kindergarden and I work as a lpn went to college in medical asstanting and took child course. I think that the school should have more for our kids and it scould be 1 staff member per 5 kids it would help allot like preschool 15 kids 1teacher 2 aides in each class. I know hows going to pay for it and there are people out there that go to college to become teachers or aides and cant find work the government needs to look at this big picture to make schools better. It seems like they wont to get high scores but they don’t know how to teach it or if our kids are not picking things up as fast as they wont it there is some thing wrong. Did keeping your son back did it help
I am the only left hander in my whole family! Through out the generations everyone but me has been right handed. It’s not easy being left handed we do things very differently to right handers but we are all amazing!!!
lefties rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah people i am left handed dont ever messs with me otherwise i will beat you up i am a girl people say i am a poo head i am NOTa poo head if you agre that iam not a poo head you will get free cookies my mean friend ashley said that to me 5 times and blamed it on chole (another girl in my calss i am only in primary school) i want stand up to ********* chloe
I’m sure psychosis has NOTHING to do with ambidextrous people. Psychosis is far more indicative of upbringing. You cannot solidly predict this disorder genetically–there are too many contributing factors.
Please allow me to present another theory–ambidextrous people are constant wafflers. Because their brain is in a perpetual state of ‘split-decision’ this makes the ADULTS around these children PSYCHOTIC because adults are always demanding that children “pick a side” or “make a decision NOW” or “do it or else.” These attitudes and their lack of patience–like how doctors have always been with Autistics–is FAR MORE DAMAGING THAN BEING AMBIDEXTROUS. Autistic children often suffer from a form of post traumatic stress disorder due to abuse via “the Village.” It is more common and pervasive than the disorders themselves.
Cure the Village’s ill-thinking, and the Autism and brain damage WILL take care of themselves. If this were untrue, then so many Mom’s wouldn’t have figured out how incredibly intelligent their Autistic children are–even if they are retarded. Doctors simply locked these children up and experimented on them. If you’d like to know exactly how intelligent ‘mentally retarded Autistics’ are–as Sue Rubin. She has quite a story to tell.
I am a left hander and an aquired ambiudexter. I am almost 60 years old, I have a son 25 who is a lefty. What made me started to investigate is my grand niece who is 2.5 years old.
She is exremely smart appears ot be ambiudexter and multi tasker.
I am technical, educated and statistically knowledgable person. All the studies according to my reading points out the data collection at ages 8 and 16.
I believe the resarchers are missing the boat by not studying the kids eralier then age 8. It is my belief that the results they are achieving that shows ambiudexters to be brain dead. They are too late to discover the smartness in these kids, why; at age 8 kids are alread fallen behind of an average kid due to environment and lack of knowledge from parents and teachers to give them the correct support in advanced learning. At age 7 they are baranded as ADD or ADHD or AD without HD. This happened to my oldest son. When child study cented professor tested him his IQ was way above average and he was diagnosed with AD without HD. It turned out the drug they gave him did not work. His pediatrician was at all time disagreement with the diagnoses. Later on it turn out tomato was part of his problem (thanks to my wife who discovered it) We home schooled him.
He does not have alot of friends but he is a quick learner and out of 4500 students and teachers at his high school he was the oly one self thought and programmed an industrial robot and won state championship two years in row. He was behind at school at age 8 and untill we home schooled him.
So, all the scientists who are out there studiying a population and using data provided by school counsellers are not wrong but chosing a wrong population.
The analysis of data is, to do something with the data not to point us what is or where the problem is. We should use data to improve.
Younger children under 7-8 should be the focus and we should develop a program that should take these ambiudexter kida to a next level of advancement not to their discurragement by we not knowing what to do. They desrve it, they are your and my kids.
it is really true that always all person left handed is minded to compare right handed how it is scientifically true………….
Im ambidextrous, yet I am one of the smartest kids in my grade. I have the highest GPA and i read well above the average reading level for people my age. In first grade, I completed the required reading material within a few months, and my teacher gave me higher level books to read.
I agree w/ joshXv:) I am a lefty and my step brother would have been, had his mother not tied his hand behind his back before she met my Father (psycho). We had the most fun w/ make believe and inventions while my other two brothers, (righty’s) were more serious and just kinda went with it all. Also, its interesting about the ambitdextrous bc my son is two yrs. old and has Agenesis of the Corpus collussum, which mean he is missing the connection all together. He has excelled to a 3 yr. old level in every area but one after a slight delay (nd panic on my end as to how he would be affected mentally),but he did not talk. Rather, could not, or would not, havent figured it out yet. Nothing, no sounds, no babbling like most babies, no mama, dada…until about two months ago. He went from sounds to one syllable owrds maybe one a week, and now seems to be increasing his learning at an incredible speed. one word a day, now three or four a day. He learned to talk in only two months!! Loved this article, very interesting, eager to do a little more digging
I am also ambidextrous, I can remember when I was four coloring and using both hands, my mother told me I need to pick only one hand, I asked her which one because they both felt comfortable to me, she told me the right hand. Now I write with my right and 50% of my activities are done with my left. I believe that both sides of the brain are active and working, unlike our counterparts. Most likely this is not a sign of slow development or low IQ but possibly a sign of intelligence.
Dear sir/madam,
My grandson is now 4 years old and joining at kindergarden school. He writes by left hand and loves to active his left hand in most of time.He uses his right hand in daily activities only in presser by parents.I am worry about his left hand writing. Hence,shall I try to right hand writing instead of left hand writing or leave it to write by left hand, which is best ? kindly could you suggest me by email .
Thanks and regards,
N . Mahat
Do ambidextrous persons/ women have larger corpos collosum of the brain which interacts between right and left sides?
A 15 yr old or longer study showed between heterosexual males, homosexual males and females that the corpos collosum of the female was the largest, the homosexual male the smallest and the homosexual male somewhere in between.
This may account for the fact that women can multi task paying bills with playing/supervising the children while their husbands can only do left brained work, like accounting or whatever single focus they do.
Are there any studies that relate size of corpus collosum with ambidextrousness in females; or males; or monkeys who are ambidextrous.
Ths from a lifetime natural athlete, female, ambitdextrous, only one in the family or even left handed), creative, multiasked, color coding, natural gps for locating materials in my office without files and cabinets, also a scholarly post grad researcher seeking colleagues and answers and more questions.
Oops! Typo error.
Clarification:
Study showed corpus collosum of heterosexual males was the smallest (cc= integrator of both sides of brain, linear and creative).
The size of corpus collosum that was the largest was of females.
The mid-sided corpus collosum was found in homosexual males.
[...] out of the past five American presidents have been lefties. Some researchers even conclude that the left-handers will lead a new age of genius. "Nowadays anyone with any kind of disability can live a normal life and do anything any other [...]
The last two paragraphs greatly discredit the article “best of both worlds”, specifically the statements “this gene” and “the gene”. Very few of what we consider traits or phenotypes are actually controlled by a single gene. Animal and plant development is usually a combinations of genes which some times combine in predictable outcomes, sometimes unpredictable (epistasis).
[...] According to the psychologist Marian Annett, more than twice as many artists, musicians, mathematicians, and engineers are left-handed than would be expected by chance. And about 10 percent of left-handers suffer from language disorders and reading disabilities, while only 1 percent of right-handers do. Of the remaining 10 percent, about half are “strongly” left-handed. About 5 percent of the global population are right hemisphere dominant. In Britain, around 13% of men and 11% of women are now left-handed, compared to just 3% of those born before 1910. [...]
[...] neural pathways ~ Chris Mcmanus, University College London; Right Hand, Left Hand, by Chris Mcmanus http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/research/lefthanded-research.html ) The good news? We can rebuild [...]
mr crow or call him mr cocksucker.i think that you are one of the apesthat had been born in our world.actually when you talk about highly differentiated lobes of the brain,you must not simultaneously forget the fact that humans have been able to increase the size of their brains.memory arises in our brain from the recreation of the electrical impulses that are generated when we encounter a stimuli.just being ambiudexter ,we tend to have better conduction of impulses and unify the two lobes for better coordination.the fellows you use in your labs are as dumb as you are .iq is gifted and yes, with the most proper training it can be developed.for eg,you can make a spiral o paper and colour its line in different colours in a tricky manner.i have in my own research ,have been able to increase the scores of persons from 145 to 163.yes they had been advised to drink pure milk three times a day and were made to do pranayamas 2 times a day.not only their iq scores increased substantially,they were able to think in a better way.
LOL, Leave your subjective opinion out of this.