2023-08-21 09:22:22
Should a left-handed person be forced to use their right hand? Does your brain work differently? Questions and also answers about left-handed people.
The prevalence of left-handers in the world is 10.6?%. Photo: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash
The prevalence of left-handed people in the world is 10.6%although the figure varies between a 9.3% and 18.1%depending on how this laterality is measured, according to the ‘Human Handedness’ meta-analysis from the academic journal “Psychological Bulletin”.
At left-handed people have been associated with myths that are often not true.
The neuroscience doctor Diego Redolar, deputy director of research at the Psychology and Educational Sciences Department, and educational psychologist Sylvie Pérez, professor at the Psychology and Educational Sciences Department, from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) They answer some of the most common questions about left-handed people and disprove myths based on science.
1. Does the brain of a left-handed person work differently?
Dr. Redolar indicates that Yeah Differences, albeit minimal, have been found between the brain of a left-handed person and a right-handed person.
He The right hemisphere has a greater functional weight in the motor cortex of a left-handed person, while in the case of the right-handed person, it does. the left.
In the brain, motor control is performed by the hemisphere contralateral to the limb being moved.
The brain of a left-handed person and a right-handed person have slight differences. EPA/LAURENT GILLIERON
2. Is the language area in the same place?
The language in many left-handed people it is lateralized in the left hemisphere, but it can also be found in the right or even in both.
This has no major implications, except in case of diseases such as ischemia or cerebrovascular accidents.
“For language, being left-handed can be a positive aspect if language is in both hemispheres. A right-handed person who has a lesion that affects the left hemisphere, the language areas, loses language completely. However, a left-handed person who has language in both hemispheres, even if the lesion affects one of the two hemispheres, the other still remains, and therefore the functional loss, in this case language, is usually less.” says Dr. Redolar.
3. Do left-handed and right-handed people develop the same skills?
The truth is numerous differences in the development of skills between a left-handed person and a right-handed person have not been found.
Professor Sylvie Pérez indicates that the sociocultural context in which a left-handed child grows up can be decisive for the development of skills.
If a left-handed person who lives in the East and learns to write Arabic, “has it easier than a left-handed person who learns to write Spanish, because Arabic is written from right to left. This has advantages because the very way of writing is already clean, it doesn’t even stain the paper”, points out the UOC professor.
Writing Arabic will be easier for left-handed people. EFE/Isaac J. Martin
4. Is it known why there are right-handed people and left-handed people?
Despite the existence of various hypotheses about the organization of the nervous system and laterality, there is no scientific evidence to support them at present.
“In this sense, we speak of laterality, that is, of functions that are in one hemisphere or another. The explanation of this laterality we do not have today. What it does seem to be is that it is an organizational aspect of the nervous system”, indicates doctor Diego Redolar.
5. Should a left-handed person be forced to use his right hand?
Although a few years ago it was customary to teach all children to use the right hand, The professional answer to this question is a resounding no.
If a person shows from a young age a preference for performing tasks with the left hand, we shouldn’t change this. Your brain is organizing itself in this way and altering it can cause disorders such as learning delays or coordination difficulties.
Children usually show their manual preference from an early age. EFE/Daniel Perez
6. Why were left-handed people taught to use their right hand before?
Educational psychologist Sylvie Pérez recalls that years ago the world was much more superstitious and that is why they tried to teach left-handed children to use the right hand.
In certain cultures such as the Arab, it is in bad taste to use the left hand to serve food, for example. For these For sociocultural reasons, left-handed people were forced to use their right hand..
7. Today, is there a complex among lefties?
According to the doctors of the Open University of Cataloniathe world “is designed for the right-handed majority”, so a left-handed person Yes, you can feel different and excluded.
Hay tools like scissors, pens, even musical instruments made specifically for leftiessince it is difficult for them to use them effectively if they are not adapted.
“Society can get you disabled. If you want to cut with scissors and you don’t have scissors for a left-handed person, you will surely not cut well, or you will cut worse than others. That can generate frustration or a feeling of impotence or a constant feeling of inferiority”, says Sylvie Pérez.
Sometimes being left-handed can cause complexes, especially in the little ones. EFE/ Roman G. Aguilera
8. Since when do we know if a child is left-handed or right-handed?
Despite the fact that in some cases laterality is shown from birth, on many occasions it takes a few years to show, as babies are exploring. So, the idea is to let them develop without imposing anything on them.
Teachers recommend parents observe with which hand your children take things, if they go up the stairs putting one foot first or the other…
“In case you see that you are left-handed, the ideal is, if there is a possibility of left-handed products, to buy that option, such as scissors. And where there is no such possibility, teach with more patience so that they can do it and that this difference is lived with positivity. We live in a very homogeneous world, and any difference today is difficult to manage”, affirms the educational psychologist.
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