Why aren't you a lefty?

Here too, it seemed that no one wanted a child to be left-handed. I always put the spoon in the center of the tray for my sons when they were little, so they could choose which hand to use. One son is left handed and the other is right handed. The lefty, was a switch-hitter in baseball, which when he was young really threw the other teams off, like Angela said. He also plays golf right-handed. I will have to check his swirl!
 
In SA India the head gestures used as form of communication, have often the opposite meaning of the West.
Many Corporations train employees for it.
Misunderstanding happens often.
Up and down could be NO.
Left and right wobble could be YES.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_bobble

ps Always confirm with verbal communication.
 
I was always wondering why there are people who write with their right hand and there are people who write with their left hand. Is this factor hereditary? If you write with your left hand is there a chance that your child will write with his left hand too?
 
I have found this topic very interesting for a long time.

Here is a Twin study on cerebral asymmetry as it relates to right vs. left handed-ness (as well as some interesting findings on the less talked about symmetry or ambidextrous). I don't have enough posts yet in order to include a link. The name of the study to find it:

"Heretability of lobar brain volumes in twins support genetic models of cerebral laterality and handedness"

According to this study, I would fit into the RL cohort (Left-Right discordant or in other words swayed toward not being overtly asymmetrical and thusly with a favoured/stronger left hemisphere, yet not becoming fully LL/left-handed, either).

I write with my right hand and perform many other functions with my right hand, but at the same time, I am also fairly ambidextrous as well as preferring and performing better with my left hand/side of the body in sports and other motor activities.

It seems the vast majority of humans develop more of the left hemisphere and end up with lateral asymmetry (RR), whilst a minority (LL and RL) for some reason get "randomized" or less asymmetrical brains. The jury seems to be still out on how this happens.

As per genetics and potential heretability factors, this is fascinating. I have two daughters - one right-handed and the other left-handed. My left-handed daughter fits all the study/reports that correlate higher artistic-spatial ability. In fact one area (architecture) in which is often cited as a higher than average "lefty" skill is exactly what she does.
 
Strudel said:
I have found this topic very interesting for a long time.

Here is a Twin study on cerebral asymmetry as it relates to right vs. left handed-ness (as well as some interesting findings on the less talked about symmetry or ambidextrous). I don't have enough posts yet in order to include a link. The name of the study to find it:

"Heretability of lobar brain volumes in twins support genetic models of cerebral laterality and handedness"

According to this study, I would fit into the RL cohort (Left-Right discordant or in other words swayed toward not being overtly asymmetrical and thusly with a favoured/stronger left hemisphere, yet not becoming fully LL/left-handed, either).

I write with my right hand and perform many other functions with my right hand, but at the same time, I am also fairly ambidextrous as well as preferring and performing better with my left hand/side of the body in sports and other motor activities.

It seems the vast majority of humans develop more of the left hemisphere and end up with lateral asymmetry (RR), whilst a minority (LL and RL) for some reason get "randomized" or less asymmetrical brains. The jury seems to be still out on how this happens.

As per genetics and potential heretability factors, this is fascinating. I have two daughters - one right-handed and the other left-handed. My left-handed daughter fits all the study/reports that correlate higher artistic-spatial ability. In fact one area (architecture) in which is often cited as a higher than average "lefty" skill is exactly what she does.
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My Dad was like that and most of his brothers. I always thought he was a lefty who was just forced to use his right hand for writing, but maybe not. In golf, soccer, working with tools of any kind, he was a lefty. He also was very artistic, sculpted when he was young, always wanted to be an architect, and was excellent at math.

My brother is like him. I'm like my mother, so right dominant that my left hand is almost useless, although I played piano pretty well when I was younger, which might require being a bit ambidextrous?
 
There was a Nun in elementary school that made a child sit on his left hand to force him to write with his right hand. I don’t know why, and that’s all I remember.
Maybe she was trying to figure out if he was a real lefty.
 
Angela said:
My Dad was like that and most of his brothers. I always thought he was a lefty who was just forced to use his right hand for writing, but maybe not. In golf, soccer, working with tools of any kind, he was a lefty. He also was very artistic, sculpted when he was young, always wanted to be an architect, and was excellent at math.
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For me, I know I wasn't forcibly switched in school. I am just like your dad. It does come in handy! :grin: I also wanted to become an architect when I was young, but ended up as an artistic director and am always creating and constructing something. Kind of close.

Angela said:
My brother is like him. I'm like my mother, so right dominant that my left hand is almost useless, although I played piano pretty well when I was younger, which might require being a bit ambidextrous?
Click to expand...


Perhaps, musical aptitude also has strong elements of left brain language/linear cognition, at least as far as reading the music and making sense of it. My right-handed daughter is like you - very left-brain dominant. She played the drums when younger and did very well at it, which seems counter-intuitive as per motor skills when it comes to the drums? :unsure:
 
My mother forced me to abandon writing with my left hand too.
 
Strudel said:
For me, I know I wasn't forcibly switched in school. I am just like your dad. It does come in handy! :grin: I also wanted to become an architect when I was young, but ended up as an artistic director and am always creating and constructing something. Kind of close.




Perhaps, musical aptitude also has strong elements of left brain language/linear cognition, at least as far as reading the music and making sense of it. My right-handed daughter is like you - very left-brain dominant. She played the drums when younger and did very well at it, which seems counter-intuitive as per motor skills when it comes to the drums? :unsure:
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It is indeed handy being ambidextrous. My Dad favored his left foot in soccer, but could switch to his right!

You're right. I was very good at reading music and reading words before that, but still you have to be a tiny bit ambidextrous to play piano: your left and right hands are doing completely different things.

Real musical talent is different. My son barely reads the music; he can hear even a long piece once and reproduce it, whether on piano, trombone, or guitar. My father's family is like that. I could never do it. Yet, strangely, like my mother's family my son can't sing on pitch to save his life. At least I can do that. :)

Amazing how these traits pass and recombine.

@ihype,
In my father's time in Italy, and even when I was young, you were definitely forced to use your right hand for writing. I don't remember anyone writing with the left hand. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that inks were wet then? You'd smudge it all, yes?
 
Angela said:
It is indeed handy being ambidextrous. My Dad favored his left foot in soccer, but could switch to his right!

You're right. I was very good at reading music and reading words before that, but still you have to be a tiny bit ambidextrous to play piano: your left and right hands are doing completely different things.

Real musical talent is different. My son barely reads the music; he can hear even a long piece once and reproduce it, whether on piano, trombone, or guitar. My father's family is like that. I could never do it. Yet, strangely, like my mother's family my son can't sing on pitch to save his life. At least I can do that. :)

Amazing how these traits pass and recombine.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree on how interesting it is how these sorts of native skill traits get passed down, similar to eye colour etc. except more (not sure how to define it) expressive maybe.

Native musical talent as you have described with your son who can reproduce without needing to read is one of these talents that astounds me. I missed the boat on that one, too. I can sing, though and have good pitch.

My younger (the right-handed) daughter has it a bit and my nephew (sister's son) has it in spades. He plays multiple instruments. I lost count how many. But they include piano, trumpet, guitar and the drums and just picks it all up by ear. A veritable one-man band. Truly amazing. He inherited this from his dad who also was musically talented.

As for my daughter, there must have been a skipped generation thing going on. I took guitar lessons as a teen, but frankly it was hard work for me. My husband's family has no musical inclination and neither of my parents are musically talented - tone deaf and no played instruments. However, my Oma (maternal grandmother) played piano very well and from family history she gave piano lessons to kids back in Germany when she was a young mother.

Talents like these and occupational skills that we can see strongly running through families is interesting from a genetic point of view.
 
Coincidentally, a big study on left-handedness was published using the U.K. biobank data which tried to confirm genetic links for it, but found only one possible marker. Perhaps something in utero might also affect it?

See:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/19/447177
 
I'm an "everything" lefty when it comes to coordination (terrible I might add, I literally can't play the guitar and I have tried), writing, and sports. I've never taken a good stab at visual arts because I don't find it interesting, but I find myself brainstorming creative writing all the time. I've adapted to the world of math, science, programming and even learning new verbal languages because that's what interests me, despite all of them being "right" tendencies.
 
Aaron1981 said:
I'm an "everything" lefty when it comes to coordination (terrible I might add, I literally can't play the guitar and I have tried), writing, and sports. I've never taken a good stab at visual arts because I don't find it interesting, but I find myself brainstorming creative writing all the time. I've adapted to the world of math, science, programming and even learning new verbal languages because that's what interests me, despite all of them being "right" tendencies.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty that sure I have read a study or more than one finding that programming has right brain components and more than average number of left-handed people have a talent for this. Sorry, I do not have links handy to share, but if I find reference, I will add it.

Also, some more subjective anecdotal observations on my part seems to bear out slightly higher than norm numbers of left-handed folks in programming. I would hazard to guess this is one of those areas which straddles the divide, kind of like architecture does.
 
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I write and draw with my left hand, but almost everything else I do is with my right. Kick a ball is with my right foot, anything thrown or caught Is with my right, though when driving a car I use my left hand for finer steering movement. My right side has just a slightly higher degree of muscle mass. I’ve always found this interesting. I wouldn’t say I’m ambidextrous as both sides at poor at some action or another and excel in others. The left side seems to be for finer movements and specific tasks, whereas strength and depth perception movements seem to be on the right.
 
Curiously, there is by all accounts a connection with the manner in which your hair spins at the scalp and handedness, a great many people's hair spins clockwise and will in general be correct given...























Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing
 
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