Left-Handedness
A child’s preference for using the left hand for writing and other activities requiring coordination. Whether a child prefers the right or left hand (called “handedness” by scientists) is probably inborn. Four percent of children are left handed and 96 percent are right-handed (percentages don’t equal 100 because some are ambidextrous).
More than 90 percent of healthy children use the right hand for writing, and most (66 percent) favor the right hand for other activities requiring coordination. The rest are either left-handed or ambidextrous (able to use either hand). Handedness has no correlation to gender, and if the brain becomes damaged before age 12, it is possible to switch handedness without too much difficulty.
The propensity for using the left hand is related to the two hemispheres of the brain, each of which controls movement and sensation in the opposite side of the body. The dominant hemisphere in left handed people is almost always the left, although a few left-handed children have a dominant right hemisphere. Others display no dominance at all.
Scientists suspect that some language disorders such as DYSLEXIA and STUTTERING are more common in left-handed children and may be related to a problem in developing cerebral dominance.
In earlier centuries, a left-handed child was considered to be unlucky at best, and evil at worst. (The word sinister comes from the Latin word for “left.”) While this is no longer true today, so many people are right-handed that the pressure to conform is very high, especially in cultures that reserve the left hand for cleaning the anal area after defecating; in these cultures, the left hand is considered “unclean.”
It is not clear whether left-handed children have special abilities. There is no evidence that more artists are left-handed, for example. In fact, about 60 percent of left-handed children, like right-handers, process speech in the left hemisphere, while the other 40 percent use both sides of the brain. This is one indication that each of the brain’s hemispheres has the potential for processing any function.
More than 90 percent of healthy children use the right hand for writing, and most (66 percent) favor the right hand for other activities requiring coordination. The rest are either left-handed or ambidextrous (able to use either hand). Handedness has no correlation to gender, and if the brain becomes damaged before age 12, it is possible to switch handedness without too much difficulty.
The propensity for using the left hand is related to the two hemispheres of the brain, each of which controls movement and sensation in the opposite side of the body. The dominant hemisphere in left handed people is almost always the left, although a few left-handed children have a dominant right hemisphere. Others display no dominance at all.
Scientists suspect that some language disorders such as DYSLEXIA and STUTTERING are more common in left-handed children and may be related to a problem in developing cerebral dominance.
In earlier centuries, a left-handed child was considered to be unlucky at best, and evil at worst. (The word sinister comes from the Latin word for “left.”) While this is no longer true today, so many people are right-handed that the pressure to conform is very high, especially in cultures that reserve the left hand for cleaning the anal area after defecating; in these cultures, the left hand is considered “unclean.”
It is not clear whether left-handed children have special abilities. There is no evidence that more artists are left-handed, for example. In fact, about 60 percent of left-handed children, like right-handers, process speech in the left hemisphere, while the other 40 percent use both sides of the brain. This is one indication that each of the brain’s hemispheres has the potential for processing any function.
Posted in Health and Wellness
Comments (1)
they say that left handed people are talented and I also read a book about this.
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