If you were born left-handed, then you already know the difficulties they have to face since childhood. For example, desks at school were clearly made to make it easier for right-handed people to write. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Scissors, pens, musical instruments, even styli - all this is made for right-handers, although in fairness it is worth saying that now many necessary tools are also appearing for left-handers. But the lives of left-handers can be poisoned not only by inconvenient school supplies. It also has to do with which part of the brain is dominant in a person and also influences personality type.
We offer you 10 facts about left-handed people that may come as a surprise to you. Let's start.
1. Lefties make up only 10 percent of the population
That's right, only one in ten people is left-handed. That makes them very special, doesn't it?
2. Lefties have their day
August 13th is the official left-handed day, so if you're in the top 10% of the population, you might want to start planning what you'll do on this special day.
3. They associate the word “left” with the meaning “good”
While right-handers associate the right side with something positive, for left-handers the opposite is true. In a world ruled by right-handers, left-handers feel out of place, even if they don't realize it. Everything happens on a subconscious level.
4. Lefties are easily frightened
A study conducted by researchers at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland, found that left-handers were more likely to show signs of post-traumatic stress after watching scary clips. Researchers explain that fear responses, which are controlled by the right side of the brain (which is dominant for left-handed people), are more common in left-handed people.
5. They May Have a Higher IQ
According to statistics, there are more left-handers in the world with an IQ above 140 than right-handers. Additionally, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin were also left-handed, so if you also rely more on left hand, you are in good company!
6. Lefties are more likely to be embarrassed
According to the BBC, left-handers are more likely to succumb to feelings of self-consciousness or embarrassment. This is due to the fact that the right side of the brain is responsible for such emotions.
7. Being left-handed may depend on the condition of the mother during pregnancy.
According to ABC News, women who feel stressed during pregnancy are more likely to be left-handed. In addition, if a woman is over 40 years old at the time of the birth of a child, she also has more chances give birth to a left-handed person (128%) than at the age of 20 years.
8. Lefties are more likely to be creative people
Left-handed people have more developed divergent thinking. This means that they are able to come to multiple conclusions based on a given set of information. This feature makes left-handed people creative.
9. There are a lot of lefties in the royal family.
Prince William and his son Prince George were born left-handed. IN royal family there are many other left-handers, including Queen Victoria, King George VI, and the Queen Mother.
10. There have been eight left-handed American presidents
James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama are the famous left-handed presidents in American history. Although this number may be much higher, since in the past it was customary to hide such a feature, because left-handed people were frowned upon.
They make up 10-17 percent of the population of our planet. In the 1930s, about 3% of people in Britain were left-handed; by the 1950s, this had risen to about 5%, and now about one in ten English people is left-handed. In Russia, accordingly, there are about 15–18 million people. Moreover domestic army left-handedness is increasing year by year - since public education finally left the dissimilar ones alone. After all, until 1985, left-handers were stubbornly retrained, forcing them to write and draw with their right hand.
The following is known for certain: among children of right-handed parents, left-handers account for approximately 2 percent, if one parent is right-handed - 17 percent, for two left-handers - 46 percent. Globally, there are approximately 9–11 percent left-handed children, but in our country - almost 25 percent. This fact is explained by one unfortunate circumstance: it is a rare Russian mother who gives birth without problems. Pathology during childbirth reaches 70 percent.
Some scientists believe that the ratio of left-handers to right-handers has remained approximately the same at all times. Interestingly, cave paintings depict people doing something with their right hand. On the walls of caves and Egyptian pyramids There are plenty of such images. Moreover, the tools and products of ancient gunsmiths that survived from the Paleolithic era were clearly intended for the right hand.
But there are works proving that in the Stone Age there were the same number of right-handed and left-handed people, and in Bronze Age Two-thirds are now right-handed. It is curious that in this sense equality reigns in the animal world. Although a number of studies convincingly prove that monkeys prefer to reach for food with their left hand and perform various manipulations with their right. That is, old functions are controlled by the right hemisphere, and new ones by the left. By the way, if you observe newborn children, you will notice that they grab more often with their left hand. Even 100% right-handers perform some functions, in particular static ones, with their left hand. It’s easier to hold something with your left hand alone.
An increased incidence of left-handedness is observed among twins. Statistically, the identical twin of a left-handed person has a 76% chance of being left-handed, the reasons for this being identified as partly genetic and partly environmental. At the same time, alas, there are many weak-minded left-handers, alcoholics, who knock over a shot glass exclusively with their left hand. Leftists are more prone to accidents. They have problems spatial perception. They say they feel time differently. At the same time, it was long believed that left-handed people suffered from visual perception, since it is associated with the work of the right hemisphere. However scientific works Institute age physiology convince: this is not so. But the strategy of left-handed people is different.
who is left-handed generally uses his left hand much more often than his right; A left-handed person will primarily use his left hand for personal needs, cooking and similar matters.The hand used for writing is not an accurate indicator of left- (right-) handedness. Thus, many left-handers write with their right hand, but use their left hand to perform most other tasks. 1
Alexander the Great , Julius Caesar, da Vinci , Napoleon, Charlie Chaplin, Lewis Carroll, Michelangelo, Albert Einstein - what unites these people, besides genius?
They are all left-handed.
The percentage of giftedness among left-handed people is unusually high. It is difficult to name an area of art, politics or sports where left-handers have not staked their claim to first place.
In music it is Mozart and Beethoven, in painting - Leonardo da Vinci , Raphael, Rubens. The inimitable Robert De Niro, the charming Julia Roberts, the “hard nut” Bruce Willis, the charming Tom Cruise, the invincible Sylvester Stallone - also from the left-handed category.
All recent US presidents - Reagan, Bush, and Clinton - are entirely left-handed. Even Al Gore, one of the leaders in the presidential race, writes with his left hand.
Famous tennis players Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova hit well with their left hand.
Computer genius Bill Gates, who could not be ruined by recent losses of millions, is also left-handed.
It would seem that left-handers have something to be proud of. One Lefty, created by left-handed writer Nikolai Leskov, is worth it!
But the majority, alas, still have a negative attitude towards them. 6
IN English language In most technical contexts, the word sinistral is used instead of left-handed, and the word sinistrality is used instead of left-handedness.
These technical terms come from Latin word"sinister" - ominous (gloomy). 5
From the very first months of life, children are divided into left-handers and right-handers. Left-handedness is influenced by genetics, pregnancy and childbirth.
There are several types of left-handers.
. Genetic
(9-11%) inherit left-handedness. In 2007, a group of scientists led by experts from the University of Oxford discovered the LLRTM1 gene, which determines whether a person is left-handed. 3
The same gene, according to scientists, increases the chances of mental illness, in particular schizophrenia.
According to Genschwind's theory, high levels of testosterone in the mother's blood during pregnancy can lead to the birth of a left-handed child.
. Compensatory
(12-13%) are born during an unfavorable course of pregnancy and childbirth. Their history often reveals birth trauma.
Their number in developed countries is Lately is increasing, as sociologists suggest, due to an increase in the number of late births. If a mother gives birth after age 40, the chances of being left-handed increase to 128% compared to those aged 20. 4
According to some data, in Russia, the recent increase in the number of left-handers (up to 25-30%) is associated not only with the cessation of retraining at school, but also with a high percentage (up to 70%) of complications during childbirth.
. Forced left-handed
(2-3%) were injured right hand, and they have to develop the left.
Left-handedness began to be actively studied after the First World War, when huge number people lost an arm or a hand in battles. In 1918, the Frenchman Albert Charlet published a book addressed to disabled people returning from the war, “How to Write with Your Left Hand.”
In 1919, the American military administration began distributing the brochure “How to learn to write with your left hand if your right hand has been amputated.”
. Imitative
(about 1%) most often appear in families where parents are left-handed. Kids just copy them. This is the only category of left-handed people who, after carefully weighing the pros and cons and consulting with a specialist, it makes sense to retrain. 3
According to statistics, people who use their right hand in its pure form are 40%, and the left hand is about 1%...
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Some scientists believe that the ratio of left-handers to right-handers has remained approximately the same at all times. Interestingly, cave paintings depict people doing something with their right hand. There are plenty of such images on the walls of caves and Egyptian pyramids. Moreover, the tools and products of ancient gunsmiths that survived from the Paleolithic era were clearly intended for the right hand.
But there are works proving that in the Stone Age there were an equal number of right-handed and left-handed people, and in the Bronze Age two-thirds were already right-handed.
It is curious that in this sense equality reigns in the animal world. Although a number of studies convincingly prove that monkeys prefer to reach for food with their left hand and perform various manipulations with their right. That is, old functions are controlled by the right hemisphere, and new ones by the left.
By the way, if you observe newborn children, you will notice that they grab more often with their left hand. Even 100% right-handers perform some functions, in particular static ones, with their left hand.
In general, there are many theories regarding the origin of left-handedness. From semi-fictional to completely scientific.
Right-handedness was explained by the right-sided location of the liver, shifting the center of gravity of the body, and left-handedness by the heart, forcing the warrior to hold a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right. It is believed that there are more left-handed people in the north than in the south.
There are hypotheses that the number of such people fluctuates depending on historical period. Some experts tend to see left-handedness as a consequence of birth trauma and even pathology.
One of the latest theories is associated with the existence of a right shift gene, that is, right-handedness. This gene is inherited in a certain way, while the left shift gene appears as a random variant. Even the position of the fetus during pregnancy can play a role. 6
The first country to ban the retraining of left-handers was Australia. IN late XIX century on this continent, left-handedness was noticed in 2% of the population, in 1910 - in 6%, in 1930 - in 9%, in the 1960s - in 13.5%.
In 1914, a symposium on “How to Treat Left-Handed Students” was held in Philadelphia (USA); left-handedness was recognized as a congenital feature, and relearning was considered dangerous for the child’s psyche. When the United States stopped re-educating children in schools, from 1932 to 1972 the number of left-handed Americans increased 5 times. 2
Ambidextrous - this tricky word is used to call those who are equally skillfully controlled by both the right and left hands. Ambidexterity is believed to be an innate trait. Children under 5 years old use their right and left hands equally often.
However, a person can become “two-handed” as a result of training, however, subconsciously he will still prefer the hand determined by physiological characteristics
brain
.
Ambisinister (from Latin - “both left”) is a person who has difficulty using both hands (the antipode of ambidextrous).
In the 19th century, it was believed that by subduing both hands, a person would master both hemispheres perfectly.
brain
and almost turns into a superman. The fashion for artificial ambidexterity quickly passed, since research revealed that “two-handed” people are no better than right-handers or left-handers.
Modern scientists also refuse to single out one of these three extremes (left-handedness, right-handedness, ambidexterity) as correct or perfect. 2
Left-handed people have certain problems when using certain objects.
For example, when writing with a ballpoint pen, everything you just wrote can be blurred by the same hand.
Scissors are also not very convenient to use - in the left hand they block the view of the cut site, so cutting out a shape is not at all easy...
Lefties get out of this situation as best they can: they get used to it, remake it, modify it...
During the development of the brain
brain
at
person
there is a division of functions between the left and right hemispheres. Right hemisphere of the brain
brain
is responsible for specifically imaginative activity (recognition of objects by smell, color and visual perception).
And the left hemisphere is responsible for speech functions, reading, writing, as well as mathematical, logical and analytical thinking. That is why the left hemisphere is called dominant or predominant.
Both hemispheres of the brain are involved in body movements.
brain
. Left hemisphere controls the right arm and leg. And the right one, respectively, with the left hand and foot.
U person many paired organs. Eyes, ears, kidneys, lungs, ovaries, testes are symmetrical and perform the same functions. Having lost one organ, a person can get by with the help of a backup.
In this sense, the cerebral hemispheres brain are an exception. They will never replace each other.
So what is the difference between the work of the head brain left-handed and right-handed?
Researchers have been conducting experiments for a long time, clarifying the differences in the activity of the brain brain left-handers and right-handers, trying to understand which areas work in a particular action.
For example, the difference between “left” and “right,” according to some researchers, lies in the perception of the surrounding reality. The left hemisphere of right-handed people breaks down the picture of the world into details and builds logical chains of cause and effect. It analyzes information, searches in memory similar, works slowly.
Right leading hemisphere brain Left-handed people capture the entire picture of the world, without details, figuratively, and do it much faster.
Left-hemisphere right-handers are more rational, reasonable, and emotionally restrained.
Most left-handers do not have a clear left-right connection in their heads, so they often get confused. Right-hemisphere left-handers tend to imaginative thinking, more emotional, vulnerable.
Today, three approaches are accepted in the scientific world.
I - right-handers and left-handers have no advantage over each other.
II - left-handers have nothing to be proud of; their cute feature often accompanies such mental illnesses as epilepsy, schizophrenia, and contributes to hereditary alcoholism.
III - left-handers have more high performance neuropsychic activity and greater adaptive capabilities than right-handers.
It is believed that left-handedness should not influence the choice of profession, but there are still areas of activity in which a left-handed person will be less successful.
For example, there are very few of them among pilots: all aircraft controls are designed for right-handed people. According to doctors, in stressful situation Left-handed pilots may experience spatial illusions and errors inherent in mirror perception of the world.
Dental clinics have also become a left-handed zone.
In many sports, being left-handed is considered an advantage. But this is especially obvious in boxing. Left-handed boxers win 35-40% of gold medals at majors international competitions. They are awkward and unpredictable opponents.
In the 1970s, during research it was found that the advantage of left-handers is not in the speed of performing strikes with each hand separately, but in the overall speed of reaction.
The speed of motor functions in left-handers is generally worse: for example, the time to avoid a blow when bending the torso is 270 ms for left-handers and 230 ms for right-handers.
But for left-handed people there is practically no difference in the movements of the right and left hands. This also applies to the accuracy of strikes: for left-handers, the work of the right hand is the same as for right-handers, but the left hand is much better. 2
The headquarters of the International Left-Handed Association is located in Topeka, Kansas, USA. The association released the “Left-Handed Bill,” which emotionally poses the question: “Why should left-handed people live in a world where they are obviously placed on unequal conditions with others?”
The British Left-Handed Club took the initiative in 1992 to introduce world day left-handers, which is celebrated annually on August 13th. This day was first celebrated on August 13, 1976 (according to other sources - August 13, 1992). 1
Since then, every year on this day, activists strive to draw the attention of designers, manufacturers and sellers of goods to the need to take into account the convenience of left-handers when using various items, and also encourage right-handed people to spend this day using only their left hand...
I remember, in the distant school childhood a magazine with a photo came into the classroom " The Beatles" “Why is he holding the guitar backwards? "- someone asked about Paul McCartney. This is how we first learned that one of the Beatles was left-handed.
And then, years later, I read that the drummer of the famous band, Ringo Starr, is also left-handed. Having become a journalist, I saw with my own eyes how the magnificent singer Mireille Mathieu signed an autograph with her left hand for the readers of my newspaper.
Lefty- a rare and common phenomenon at the same time. Wherever more than thirty people gathered, there was always a left-handed person.
Linguists have found that different languages the word "right" is similar to words like "right" and "correct", while "left" is similar to words like "sinister" and "broken". Left-handers have always been looked upon as some kind of deviation from generally accepted norms: English left-handed is translated not only as “left-handed”, but also as “clumsy”, “hypocritical”, and as “defective” and “deceitful”. But is this fair?
Video: Features of left-handed people (children) or who are left-handed people
It has not yet been possible to establish absolutely exactly the reason why a person becomes left-handed. Scientists believe that in about half of cases, violations in genetic code. In the other half - wrong move shifting processes during fetal development (this leads to a number of problems characteristic of left-handers: early puberty, dyslexia, insomnia...), or birth trauma.
In nature there is leftism and rightism is a little-studied phenomenon, although asymmetry is one of the fundamental properties nature. How does it manifest itself at the level organic matter and living organisms? It is known, for example, that living cell in its structure it is asymmetrical, and the dead one is symmetrical. Louis Pasteur's observations in the 19th century were that many organic molecules can form two different forms, which represent mirror reflection- in the same exact way as the glove of the right hand is a mirror repetition of the glove for the left. Although chemically identical, such molecules differ morphologically and are called stereoisomers.
Even stranger, living things are capable of producing either one or the other stereoisomer, whereas laboratory chemistry always gives a mixture of them in equal proportions. Take for example lemon and orange - two fruits with a characteristic aroma, which, although similar, are somewhat different. So, these two distinct odors are produced by the same chemical substance - limonin. However, the atoms in its two molecules are arranged in different ways: limonin produced in lemon is a mirror image of the same chemical substance, born in an orange.
“From the observations of naturalists it is known that in nature movement goes from right to left. All luminaries and their satellites describe circular paths from east to west. In humans, the right hand is better developed than the left... The curls of the shell, with rare exceptions, are wrapped from right to left. And if you come across a shell - left-handed, experts value it as worth its weight in gold,” wrote Jules Verne.
Most people consider leftism to be anomalous, but life itself is predominantly morphologically leftist.
Is left-handedness a genetic abnormality?
The helix of the DNA molecule is invariably twisted in left side. And although all people outwardly look symmetrical, they all have a hidden one-sidedness that has nothing to do with being right-handed. this person or left-handed. So, in almost all of us the heart is located on the left side, and the liver is on the right. Beneath our skin we are quite asymmetrical.
For biological forms, however, there are exceptions. For every ten thousand people there is one whose disposition internal organs upside down. This phenomenon is called “situs inversus” in Latin. Dr Nigel Brown of St George's Hospital Medical School, who wrote a paper on "situs inversus", is convinced that body asymmetry is ultimately determined by the left or right morphology of the chemical "building blocks" of life, although he admits that it is difficult to link the molecule and the mammal directly is not yet possible. But does this mean that if the DNA helix were oriented to the right, then all people's hearts would be located on the right? Dr. Brown thinks no, although he is no less confident that there is some kind of chemical trigger that somehow tells a human fetus at fifteen days old what is left and what is right.
8% of the world's population use their left hand
So, if the mirror arrangement of internal organs is observed in one person out of ten thousand, then people who write with their left hand and play tennis with it are quite common - 8 percent of total number homo sapiens. Dr. Christopher Makienas from University College London suggested that a process occurs in the human body that has two stages. Our body has a gene that allows us to distinguish left from right - a kind of mark. This tag is then read by another gene, not yet discovered by scientists. It is he who determines whether a person will be left-handed or right-handed.
If we are born with one variant of the latter gene, we become right-handed. But a significant part of people have another version of it, it reads the mark so that they become left-handed.
Division into right-handers and left-handers - unique feature person. It is curious that only half of left-handers are genetic left-handers, and 50 percent are compensatory, that is They became left-handed as a result of damage to the left lobe of the brain.
Many little things irritate a left-handed person in a right-wing world. He enters the subway - the coin slot is located on the right. All training guides for any manual labor Designed for people who work with their right hand. And so it is in everything. Therefore, the slogan “Saving drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves” was adopted by left-handers in Western world. They created all kinds of unions, associations and societies designed to protect their rights. In a widely known case, in 1980, the International Left-Handed Association secured the reinstatement of American left-hander Franklin Winboard, who had been fired from the police force for refusing to wear a right-hand holster.
And that’s right. In some cases, left-handed people require no less help than disabled people. Most shining example: all doors are hung so that they can be opened by right-handed people. If young weak girl — left-handed, and the door has a strong spring, then it is simply not possible for her to open the door.
The problems of left-handers begin in childhood. In Russia, for example, there are practically no copybooks for left-handed children. By the way, until the mid-80s in Soviet schools they were forcibly retrained to be right-handed. The production of scissors for left-handed people has long ceased (in Soviet time they were made in Gorky). At all Lefties need a lot of left-handed items- from small things to serious things: hockey sticks, wrist watch, cameras (all models have shutter buttons on the right), phone books, and so on and so forth.
If you want to imagine how a left-handed person lives in our “right-handed” society, tie your right hand to your body for at least an hour or two. Or re-read "Alice Through the Looking Glass", where genius lefty Lewis Carroll brilliantly described the feelings of a left-handed person from living in a right-handed world. By the way, Nikolai Leskov, who wrote “Lefty”, was left-handed.
Famous left-handed people
There are not as many famous left-handers as there are right-handers, and yet there are a lot of fighters in their regiment. The word "fighters" is quite appropriate, since many outstanding commanders were left-handed. And among them are such geniuses as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon... Joan of Arc, who became famous in the military field, was also left-handed. But her left-handedness became one of the arguments of the prosecution, which brought Maid of Orleans to the fire.
Fidel Castro is left-handed
Left-handedness is not an obstacle for those who do political career, just as it does not determine moral character human politician. Were left-handed British Queen Victoria and Adolf Hitler. All US presidents of the last two decades of the 20th century - George Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton - are left-handed, a tradition that could have continued if Al Gore (also a left-hander) had won the last presidential election. By the way, their common worst and closest opponent in a geographical sense is Fidel Castro, also left-handed.
The position of left-handers in art is traditionally strong. This is probably due to the fact that they have better developed imaginative (intuitive) thinking, for which the right hemisphere, which controls the left hand, is responsible, than logical thinking. Left-handers were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, Raphael and Rubens, Pablo Picasso and Pizarro, Franz Kafka and Paul Verlaine, Mozart and Beethoven, Paul Simon and Jimi Hendrix...
Lefties just took over Hollywood. Among them are such stars as Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Deanna Durbin, Jean Harlow, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Roberts, Charlie Chaplin, Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone...
Left-handed athletes effectively use their anatomical feature in those types of competitions where there is tactical combat - tennis, boxing, fencing. Left-handed tennis players include ten-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova with her signature backhand, Monica Seles, Rod Laver, named the best tennis player of all time; Jimmy Conors and John McEnroe. In boxing, left-handers win up to 40 percent of gold medals, although there are three times fewer of them in this sport than right-handers.
Albert Einstein is left-handed
There are not so many left-handed scientists, but a few are quite significant: physicists Albert Einstein and James Maxwell, physiologist Ivan Pavlov, theologian and physician Albert Schweitzer.
Among famous entrepreneurs, there are also very few left-handers. Exceptions: John Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Bill Gates. If among ordinary people left-handers - 8 percent, then among geniuses - 20 percent. That is, left-handers in general are more than twice as gifted as right-handers. So if your child is left-handed, dont be upset. Just try to see the genius in him. By the way, left-handedness is often inherited. It is possible that you yourself are a genius. Only yet undisclosed and unrecognized. Do not miss your chance.
Those who are “lucky” to be born left-handed have to face difficulties in things that are familiar to us, right-handers. Everything from scissors to tables to cars was designed for right-handed people. But there are quite strange things that apply exclusively to left-handed people.10. People with psychosis are more likely to be left-handed.
For a long time, left-handers were viewed with suspicion and distrust. Science has recently proven that this can be done good reason. In 2013, Yale University researcher Jadon Webb conducted a review of patients with various types mental disorders, including schizophrenia. Study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking which hand they used to write. The results were amazing.
Researchers found that approximately 40 percent of those who suffered from psychosis were left-handed. This - big number, given that only approximately 10 percent of the planet's population is left-handed. Researchers believe that being left-handed is a kind of biomarker that may indicate a tendency towards mental illness, especially schizophrenia. But studies conducted with other groups suffering from mental illnesses such as depression have not found such a correlation.
9. Our ancestors also had a society with a minority of left-handers.
We tend to think of right-handers and left-handers in terms of modern culture, for example, with which hand we write or use a computer mouse. But it turns out that the first people were divided on this basis even in the Stone Age. Researchers studied Neanderthal tools and found that the wear on the vast majority of their tools indicated right-handed use. Many tools that were primarily used for skinning were scraped on stones, and the direction of the scratches indicates which hand was used. In most cases it was the right one.
There were, of course, left-handed people. Today, left-handers make up approximately 10 percent of the population, which is entirely consistent with the findings of Neanderthal researchers. This supports the theory that they are much more like us than we previously thought. Even other animals that are fairly close to us on the evolutionary tree, gorillas and chimpanzees, are only about 5 percent more likely to be left-handed.
8. The connection between left-handed people and human speech.
No other living creature has such a large number of left-handed people. So why people? It is thought to have something to do with speech. For most people, the speech center is located on the left side of the brain, more precisely in Broca's Center. It is the place where we not only generate thoughts, but also transform them into speech that others can understand. Because left side The brain controls the right side of the body; the prevalence of right-handed people is a sign of the dominance of the left hemisphere of the brain.
However, it has recently been discovered that some people develop language skills on the right side of the brain. These people are left-handed. The more a person uses one hand, the stronger the connection he has with the opposite part brain If people use their left hand for almost everything, there is a high chance that they are right-brain dominant. Additionally, those with a strong family history of being left-handed have a language processing center in the right hemisphere of the brain, suggesting that we became left-handed and right-handed when we began to develop language.
7. Left-handed spiral staircase.
It is known that in many medieval castles spiral staircases were used as defense. A spiral staircase that turns clockwise gives the guard better freedom movements. The guard can place his left hand on the railing for balance and wield the sword in his right hand. This assumes that guards must be right-handed, and this is real problem for those who are not. What should a lord do if he is left-handed?
Ferniehirst Castle in Scotland is the family home of the Kerr family, whose ancestry can be traced back to their arrival in Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066. Their ancestry is rich a large number of lefties. According to history, many of Kerr's houses and castles, such as Ferniehirst, were built with spiral staircases that twist counterclockwise instead of the traditional way. This allowed the left-handed clan to improve their defenses, making fighting easier, while simultaneously creating a problem for anyone who tried to take their castles by force. Early lords discovered the great advantage of left-handed fighters, and it became a tradition to train all guards and soldiers to fight left-handed.
6. Fear of left-handed people can be innate.
People have been suspicious of left-handed people for centuries. They were retrained and even punished for using the “wrong” hand. Science now suggests that this is not simply a desire to force people to conform to a certain standard. According to University of Utah researchers, anything related to our left side is considered strange and scary. For the experiment, the researchers gave the example of various threats coming from the right or left side. For example, in one case, participants were told that an earthquake could occur on the left or right side of their city and asked whether they would evacuate residents because of the risk of tremors. The earthquake on the left side seemed much more dangerous, and more people made the decision to evacuate.
Similar results were found when the threat was changed to a radioactive disaster; even though the source on the right was closer, the one on the left was seen as more dangerous. People also felt more disgust towards objects on their left side. This was illustrated by how they got around fake poop. There are a few various theories about why this happens, including our brain's tendency to favor things on the right side and how most of us feel more able to defend ourselves with stronger, right side.
5. Biblical warriors are left-handed.
We've already talked a little about why a southpaw might have an advantage in a fight, and this has of course been known throughout history. Even in the Bible there is a mention of left-handed warriors, which has led to an interesting debate. In an attempt to free Israel from Moabite rule, God sent Ehud, a left-handed killer, to commit one of the Bible's most gruesome murders. Ehud is far from the only left-hander mentioned in the Bible. There are also left-handed warriors who came from the Benjamit tribe.
They were incredible warriors with unprecedented skills. One theory states that the Benjamites were predisposed to being left-handed, like the aforementioned Kerr family. Another theory is based on the translation of historical records. The phrases "left-handed" and "right-handed" are often associated with Benjamites. Some think this translation hints that the tribe retrained right-handers, giving them an advantage in battle. It is also possible that the Bible addressed Special attention to the left-handed use of the Benjamites due to the comical nature of their name: "Benjamin" translates to "son of my right hand", so the Benjamites were ironically "right-handed lefties".
4. King George VI and the retraining of left-handed children.
The rejection of left-handed children has led to some rather unusual measures. Even in the 20th century, British children had their left arm tied to their torso to force them to use the “right” one. British child psychologists who supported this method argued that children who use their left hand exhibit and develop selfishness and disobedience, and this should be corrected as soon as possible.
Even kings couldn't be left-handed. The tutors struggled to get the young Duke of York (later King George VI) to start using his right hand instead of his left, along with permanent job over his famous stutter. Many children began to stutter after such retraining, giving rise to the idea that stuttering and left-hand use were somehow related. A large number of medical work investigated this issue and ultimately found that switching dominant hands leads to a struggle for dominance between the two hemispheres of the brain, which in turn provokes stuttering. This theory led to a revision of the very idea of retraining, and the practice began to die out.
Nowadays, it is believed that there is another reason for the appearance of stuttering. It is now believed that stuttering in retrained left-handers is due to the stress they are exposed to during this process.
3. Theories of Cesare Lombroso.
Lombroso was a physician who practiced at the end of the 20th century. We might expect him to take a more professional view on left-handed issues, but he once said: "The achievements of mankind belong to right-handers." A very ambiguous statement.
Lombroso believed that there is a “higher” part of the brain, which is associated with logic, and a “lower” part, which is responsible for managing a person’s beliefs and emotions. It is this “lower” part that dictates the lifestyle of left-handers, as well as criminals, crazy people and in general evil people. He believed that being left-handed did not necessarily mean being bad, but it was one of the traits that was present in "the worst of humanity." Lombroso pointed to long history distrust of left-handed people in support of his theory, which was considered medical fact at the time. Strange, but his ideas are still alive. Scientists in the 1990s used his work as a basis for research, eventually concluding that left-handed people are more susceptible to genetic disorders and have a shorter life expectancy.
2. Debunking the myth of a shorter life expectancy.
When talking about the myth that left-handers live less than right-handers, everyone pays attention to statistics. According to a study of 2,000 people published in the early 1990s who lived and died in southern California, left-handers died on average ten years earlier than right-handers. Researchers then decided that the cause of death had something to do with living in a world designed for right-handers; statistics stating that left-handed drivers are approximately five times more likely to die in a car accident supported this theory. They also looked at other types of accidents that involved left-handers.
But this theory has been debunked. Of course, the numbers may have been correct and the method may have been theoretically correct... so where's the discrepancy? Throughout history, left-handed people have been forced to become right-handed, a practice that has only recently begun to disappear. So when researchers looked at how many people died, their results were skewed. To collect data for the study, scientists asked relatives of the deceased whether their loved ones were right-handed or left-handed. And if you pay attention to the age of the surveyed relatives of deceased left-handers, you can see that their average age 10-20 years less than relatives of right-handed deceased. What follows from this? The conclusion is quite simple. The older generation is embarrassed by the fact that their relatives were left-handed, and they are still under the rule of outdated public opinion that lefties are outcasts. As it turned out later, 10 percent of the right-handers from this survey were retrained left-handers and they died even later than the average right-hander.
1. Lefties can survive the apocalypse.
The end is near, society is collapsing, civilization is falling apart. No one has advantages except those who do not have a trump card in their hands. This trump card can be connections, influence, money and unusual biological advantages, which can be safely attributed to the dominant left hand.
Left-handed people on our planet make up approximately 10 percent of the total, but in some societies this number is much higher. In the Venezuelan Yanomani tribe, approximately 23 percent of the population is left-handed. In Indonesia, 27 percent of people are left-handed.
Research conducted by the Institute Evolutionary Sciences University of Montpellier, shows that in cultures where there is a large number of left-handed people, internal tension, which leads to an increase in the number of murders. But on the other hand, this means that it is a society with dominant left-handers that will be able to change the course of development human civilization. And perhaps in a few decades, left-handers will dominate over right-handers and using the right hand will be considered “abnormal.”
And this is worth remembering:
- "left" - left - the second meaning of "throw"/"leave"
- "right" - right - the second meaning of "rightness"
The attitude of humanity towards everything “left” is immediately clear.
Material prepared by GusenaLapchataya, Administrative site - translation from listverse.com
If you want to try to create a society of dominant left-handers, you can try it in computer game. For example, the game Tropico 5 allows you to create a society very similar to reality with a developed economic and political system.
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