Begin forwarded message:
From: "Panza, Robin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sidedness is something that fascinates me, and I've got some comments to add
to the mix. I'm strongly left-handed and left-footed, but have very little
eye or ear dominance.
1. I've heard of this right-turn phenomenon before. It's supposedly why
fine jewelry is generally put to the right as you enter a store at a
cosmetic counter (at least in the US). Those who bypass the make-up find
themselves in the gold watches, where maybe they'll make an impulse
purchase. However, that seems to be breaking down--fewer stores seem to use
the traditional layout. If direction of turning is related to handedness,
lefties will go opposite righties. Personally, I find I go right and pass
counterclockwise around objects despite my left-handedness. If it's based
on training (like which side of the road gets driven on in your country),
you'd find a national correlation. I've even heard it suggested that it's
due to the earth's rotation, like water spiralling down the bathtub drain.
In that case, Ozzies and Africans should do the opposite. We could take a
survey. Everybody watch yourselves--which way do you turn to get around an
obstacle? Which side is dominant for you? And what country do you come
from (and which side do they drive on)?
2. There are apparently three kinds of lefties. I've read a number of
studies in which they take handedness into account. The papers all say
that, among righthanders, they found a consistent pattern. However, there
were three kinds of response from left-handers; roughly 1/3 did the
opposite, 1/3 did the same, and 1/3 did something equivocal or intermediate
or were inconsistent. For example, when asked a rhetorical question,
righties looked in the same direction (don't remember which), 1/3 of lefties
looked the same direction as righties, 1/3 looked the opposite direction,
and 1/3 looked somewhere altogether different (like up or down) or looked a
different direction each question. Since there are always fewer lefties in
a study, there was never statistical significance to the left-handed
responses and the researchers threw up their hands.
3. In studies of brain sidedness, some lefties have the same organization
as righties (e.g., the speech center is on the "normal" side) and some have
specialized brain centers reversed (probably the case for Mikki--her brain
is "in backwards"). Some of those with "normal" organization apparently
were oxygen-starved in very late pregnancy or during delivery (from
complications). The theory is that the starvation prevented the left
hemisphere from taking dominance at birth, so the right hemisphere stepped
in. That's three kinds of lefties--backwards brains, oxygen-starved brains,
and nobody-knows-why brains. Most papers discussing the causes of
left-handedness refuse to consider the possibility that there are 3 distinct
kinds of lefties, which probably have 3 different causes, and so they don't
find a pattern--one will argue it can't be oxygen-starvation, because 2/3 of
subjects didn't have that problem, another will argue it isn't backwards
brains, because 2/3 of the subjects don't have that, and so forth.
4. Lefthandedness is not all-or-nothing, even without contrary training.
There's what hand you *naturally* use for eating, writing, tools, etc.
(which may or may not get trained out of somebody); which foot you lead with
in walking and jumping, which ear or eye your brain gives priority to when
they are sending conflicting information. There are also subtle things like
which hand is "on top" when using a broom, or which way your eyes turn when
you ponder something, and so on. Totally left-dominance in all criteria is
apparently rare; most left-handers do at least some tasks the same as
right-handers or ambiguously, and some right-handers do a few things
left-wise. That makes it even harder to establish cause of handedness.
5. Another interesting thing is looking at frequency of left-handedness.
In developed countries of today, it's consistently 10-15 percent. In
remote, primitive cultures, it's the same. Looking at artworks going back
through the Middle Ages into ancient Egypt, it's consistently 10-15 percent.
In cultures where handedness is not an issue, it's 10-15%. In cultures
where lefties are stoned to death, it's 10-15%. In cultures where they're
considered highly honored, blessed by gods, it's 10-15%. In cultures where
writing is important (since word recognition is on one side of the brain),
and in cultures with no writing, or with non-linear communication, it's
still 10-15%. There doesn't seem to be any way to select for or against
lefties, they still make up about 10-15% of humans. This means there may
not be an underlying genetic cause (despite the fact that handedness runs in
families), or the genes involved are also involved in totally unrelated
traits that are important and subject to selection in a different way than
the handedness.
6. Many, but not all, lefties are "right-brained". Again, it may be only
1/3 of them! This refers to deduction vs. insight, verbal vs. non-verbal
thought patterns, word- vs. picture-learning, linear vs. spatial aptitude,
and so forth. My favorite definition of a right-brained person is someone
who may go through half the alphabet getting from A to B. (Conversely, s/he
can get from A to Q in one step.) Right-brain dominance seems to be more
common among lefties than righties, but still not anything like universal.
These people tend to become artists and scientists (where non-linear
"insight" and "creativity" is useful), while strongly left-brained people
tend to do best as lawyers and clericals (because language and letters are
understood in the left brain).
just my 50 cents (much too long for 2!) Robin P. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA http://www.pittsburghlace.8m.com
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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