Lefties who they are different. How is a left-hander different from a right-hander: features, interesting facts, recommendations

MOSCOW, 13 Aug— RIA Novosti, Anna Urmantseva.“From now on, August 13 of each year will be celebrated as International Day of the Left, marking the struggle for the freedom and dignity of left-handers around the world,” says the Left-Handed Bill, which was adopted in 1976. There are few left-handers among us, from three to ten percent (there are fewer among adults), but they have always been very interesting to researchers. All ideas about left-handers come down primarily to left-handedness. Nevertheless, there are such concepts as "left-footedness", "left-eyedness" and "left-earedness".

In addition, scientists find a large number of signs of left-handedness. For example, the right and left halves of the nose are different in their sense of smell. Great sensitivity of the left side of the nose to odors was found in 71% of adults, the right side - in 13%. True, loss of sensation occurs with deviated nasal septum, however, a greater acuteness of smell on the left side of the nose also occurs with a straight septum.

If we take the sense of taste, then there is also asymmetry here. On the left half of the tongue of a healthy adult, more taste buds are found, so taste sensitivity is somewhat sharper on this side than on the right.

Nearly all kangaroos are left-handed, study findsRussian zoologists have found that kangaroos prefer to use one of their paws for most daily tasks, which puts them on par with primates, and that most of them are left-handed, not right-handed like humans.

There are few absolute left-handers, as well as right-handers, in the world. Tests record how bizarrely paired organs "scatter" the main load on different sides body. In the monograph "Lefty" domestic researchers of the Institute of Neurosurgery named after N. N. Burdenko, Dr. medical sciences Natalya Bragina and Tamara Dobrokhotova present the results of their research among 100 undergraduate and graduate students (50 men and 50 women). Only 38% of the subjects turned out to be completely right-handed (there are more full right-handers among men than among women: 40% and 36%). Accordingly, 62% turned out to be partial left-handers, but among them there was not a single complete left-hander, with a left asymmetry profile in all organs. Of the partial left-handers, 5% turned out to be left-handed, and of the remaining 95% of right-handers, 57% had other manifestations of left-handedness: legs, sight or hearing. The most common (37%) was left-handed hearing.

But the most interesting thing is whether there are differences in the capabilities of the "control panel" of left-handers and right-handers, that is, at the level of functioning of their brain.
The hypotheses that left hemisphere is logical, and the right is figurative, has long been refuted. They were based on the fact that the center of speech was found in the right hemisphere - Broca's area and Wernicke's area. The more scientists learn about the brain, the less they understand how it works. However, it is still possible to see the differences in the functioning of the structures of right-handers and left-handers.

© BartBoets Scientists have identified main reason dyslexia: in their opinion, it occurs due to a violation of "communication" between the areas of the brain that process speech information and Broca's area - the center that controls speech

The left hemisphere has a more local organization and representation of the leading organs, while the right one performs a rather connecting function, which requires many pathways that unite areas scattered throughout the brain. According to research, right-handers have a brain in more works on the principle of negative feedback at the expense a large number inhibitory connections between the hemispheres. The number of inhibitory connections in right-handed people is greater than that of activating ones. There is a hypothesis that in this way the cortex (consciousness) inhibits the subcortex (emotions). And in left-handers, the principle of positive feedback prevails in the work of the brain.

In the process of research, it was found that left-handed people process information with both hemispheres at the same time. Another difference found during the study concerned the process of processing sensory information: usually the data perceived right side bodies (right eye, right ear, and so on) are translated to the left brain for processing. Accordingly, the information received by the left side is sent for processing to right hemisphere brain. The brain combines the processing done by both hemispheres to come up with what we normally see and hear.

The difference in brain function can be seen on the electroencephalogram (EEG) graphs of right-handers and left-handers at the time of falling asleep. In right-handed people, only one area of ​​the brain usually functions - it works economically. In left-handers, scientists observe the inclusion of different brain structures at the same time. It is usually deduced from this different theories about creativity and logical thinking. It is believed that it is more developed in left-handers, because some ideas that a right-hander will immediately reject due to the lack of clear logic, a left-hander with in-phase work of brain structures may well accept.

Specialists observe a difference in the process of recovery after a brain injury in left-handers and right-handers. In the former, brain structures are easier to rebuild, taking on the function of damaged areas. But for right-handers, such plasticity is unusual. There is another side of the same process: left-handers develop an epileptic attack more easily. Moreover, differences were found even on the outskirts of the attack: the right-hander usually feels his approach, and the left-hander can never remember how he started.
However, the work of such an organ as the brain requires much more research and explanation.

What is a left-handed person?
This is a person whose right half of the brain dominates.

Lefty (left-handed)- a person preferably using the left hand. Among people, left-handed people make up about 15%, that is, every seventh person is left-handed.

Among the inhabitants of the Earth on all five continents of our planet, regardless of nationality and race, right-handed people predominate.

Non-right-handed people should be divided into two unequal parts.

1. Most are lefties, people who have a predominantly developed left hand. If they were not retrained in childhood, with this hand they eat, write, wind clocks, hammer nails. Their left hand is stronger, faster, more reliable. But, the hand used for writing is not an accurate indicator of left-(right-)handedness. So, a lot of lefties write right hand using left hand for most other tasks.
2. The smallest part includes ambidexters- people with equally developed hands. Practically these people with equally badly developed hands. It is from their midst that subjects come out who cannot even hammer a nail, and in whom, when they try to wash the dishes, it beats faster than it becomes clean. There are few such people, but, according to scientists, their number is constantly growing.

Humanity has never been completely right-handed. The existence of left-handers has been reliably known since biblical times. After the return of the Jews from Egypt and their conquest of Palestine, the sons of the tribe of Benjamin, who later formed the kingdom of Judah together with the tribe of Judah, were especially militant. In 1406 BC, 700 warriors were selected from an army of almost twenty thousand, who knew how to throw stones from a sling with their left hand and hit the target accurately. Thus, even in those days, among the Jews there were 3.7 percent of pronounced left-handers. Considering that the diagnosis of left-handedness then was hardly made more precisely than it is now, then we can assume that the ratio of left-handed people to right-handed people has not changed significantly since then.

Scientists of the last century were quite well aware of the unequal development of our hands, but they understood it too literally. Indeed, the muscles of the right hand are more massive, which means they have more strength. However, the coherence of the work of the muscles depends entirely on the perfection of the command centers of the brain. It is not the right hand itself that is better developed, but the motor centers of the left hemisphere that command it. It is more correct to speak not about the leading hand, but about the leading hemisphere of the brain.
At the same time, one should not forget the peculiarity of the functional organization of our brain - the cross-control of the muscular apparatus. Therefore, the work of the right muscles human body controls the left hemisphere of the brain, and the work of the left muscles - the right hemisphere.

Thus, right-handers the leading hemisphere is the left, and in left-handed people, without good enough reason, until now the right was considered the leading hemisphere.

How is the brain developed? ambidextrous, is not known for certain. It is assumed that the most developed centers from any pair of command posts of the same name are randomly presented either in the right or in the left hemispheres of their brain.

People have long noticed their own asymmetry. In several drawings of a prehistoric man, made about 30 thousand years ago, hunters hold a spear or club in their right hand. This means that already at that time most of our ancestors were right-handed. However, we are still absolutely unaware of the reasons for the predominance of the right hand over the left. Of course, there are many guesses on this score, but it is now obvious that most of them will have to be discarded.

In children up to one and a half to two years old, both hands are developed in exactly the same way. This circumstance gave rise to the idea that we create right-handedness in ourselves by raising our children accordingly. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, the founder of the world's first academy, believed that due to the stupidity of mothers and nannies, who teach us to do everything with our right hand, we acquire this bad habit and from harmoniously developed people, as we are born, we turn into cripples. Even today, such ideas have their supporters.

It has been suggested that right-handedness is brought up from the first days of a child's life and at first carried out by our parents unconsciously. Right-handed mothers (naturally, this is in equally also applies to right-handed dads, grandparents) most often hold children on the left, freeing their right hand. It was assumed that, being in this position, it is more convenient for the child to use the right hand. So the standing posture is still in early age should lay the foundation for right-handedness in the child.

The theories listed above do not seem convincing at present, but others do not yet exist. It is only known for certain that the preferred development of one of the hands is in no way the result of upbringing, but is inherited. This pattern is more convenient to trace on left-handed people.

• In families where both parents are left-handed, 50 percent of children are also born left-handed;
• 16.7 percent of left-handed children appear in families where only one of the parents is left-handed;
• 6.3 in the families of right-handed people.

It's amazing how little we humans know about ourselves. We still do not know exactly how many right-handed people there are, and how many left-handed people are. The corresponding calculations were carried out more than once, but their results rarely coincided with each other. Different scientists have estimated the number of left-handers from 1 to 30 percent.
In modern, more detailed studies, figures from 5 to 20 percent are given.

This discrepancy depends on the assessment methodology. It is important not only who the subject considers himself to be, how others evaluate him and which hand he predominantly uses in everyday life, but also the results of special tests.
With their help, it is possible to reveal hidden left-handers retrained in childhood. Most scientists now believe that although special training, especially started at an early age, can turn a left-hander into a person who uses the right hand more often, retraining will not radically change the features of the functional asymmetry of the brain.

To identify the leading hand, 5 ... 10 special tests are used.

• If, when interlacing the fingers on top, it turns out thumb right hand, and in the “Napoleon pose” with arms crossed on the chest, the right hand will be the upper hand, it is believed that the subject is right-handed.
• In the applause test, right-handed people clap the palm of their right hand against the motionless palm of their left.
• When winding the watch, they hold it in their left hand, and turn the head of the winding mechanism with the fingers of their right.
• The subject is given two pencils and, blindfolded, is asked to draw two circles or squares. The drawing made by the leading hand is much more perfect than the second drawing.

The value of these tests in the constancy of the results. The final conclusion is made on the basis of their totality.

For left-handers in diagnostic tests, everything turns out the other way around: when the fingers are interlaced, the thumb of the left hand is at the top, and the left hand is in the “Napoleon pose”.

Nothing definite can be said about ambidextras. When performing tests to determine the leading hand, these subjects provide the most incredible inconsistency. There are ambidexters who write and eat with their left hand, while winding their watches and gesticulating with their right.

A systematic study of motor asymmetry has revealed many surprising and still obscure details.
As already mentioned, in newborns, both hands are equivalent. If in the first years of life there are preferences in their use, then they are not long and can change many times. Only in the fifth year of life, the right hand of future right-handed people gradually begins to take over all the complex activities. The process of its improvement continues for a long time and ends in adulthood.
When - scientists can not yet say.
It is assumed that in old age the opposite process occurs and the inequality of hands is gradually smoothed out. It is difficult to say whether this sequence is a normal process of development of functions or whether age-related pathology of the brain is to blame for the smoothing of motor asymmetry.

There is an idea that in girls and women the asymmetry of the hands is less pronounced, and left-handers among them are 1.5 ... 2 times less than in the representatives of the stronger sex. Improving the functions of the brain of girls is stretched for a significant period of time and is done slowly.

In boys, as early as six years old, many functions are performed separately by the right or left hemisphere of the brain, and in girls twice as old, specialization of the brain is often just beginning. Usually, the development of the left hemisphere is seriously delayed compared to the right one, and the improvement of the latter proceeds especially slowly, which determines the absence of pronounced asymmetry in girls in the first 6-10 years of their life.

It is especially interesting that left-handed twins are much more common than single-born twins, and both twins are rarely left-handed. Usually one of the twins always becomes right-handed. If the twins are of opposite sex, the boy becomes left-handed more often. Among Siamese twins, as a rule, one is right-handed, the other left-handed.

But what about the rest of the organs of our body?
Are they equally developed or, like the hands, have different abilities?

In everyday life, we do not feel much difference. In the development of the legs, for example, the asymmetry is less pronounced than in the development of the arms, and none of our lower extremities has such great advantages as the right hand.

Not surprisingly, there is still no complete clarity on this issue. Some researchers believe that right-handed people have the leading foot on the left, more recent studies have shown that people with the leading right hand also become the leading foot on the right.
Left-handers have not yet been able to find a clear preference for any particular leg.

Finding the leading foot is difficult. There are few special tests to answer this question. The nature of the asymmetry of the lower extremities is judged by the way we sit cross-legged and by the relative length of the step. It is believed that we usually throw the leading leg and its step is long.

Another sign is associated with this property of the leading leg - a deviation from given direction when moving blindfolded. Since the leading foot takes a longer step, a person who wants to go straight, but who is not able to control the direction of his movement with the help of vision, will deviate in the direction opposite to the leading foot.
in a systematic deviation from rectilinear motion an explanation is concluded why people who get lost in the forest or in high reeds and try to strictly adhere to the chosen direction, making a big circle, eventually return to the place from which they started moving.

Functional asymmetry hemispheres brain is not limited to differences in the perfection of the muscular functions of the right and left halves of the body. It can also be found in the functioning of the sense organs. In a person, it is possible to detect the leading eye and the leading ear, the leading half of the nose and tongue.

The dominant eye in 62 percent of people is the right. If he becomes slightly blind and the person begins to use the other eye more often, the leading eye does not lose leadership.

Most people have more taste buds on the left side of the tongue and are more sensitive to taste stimuli than the right side.

In terms of sensitivity to olfactory stimuli, the left half of the nose is also leading. It is assumed that all olfactory information is analyzed by the right hemisphere, and the left hemisphere is not at all interested in smells.

We easily recognize familiar objects by touch. Even a casual touch can tell a lot about them.

In right-handed people, the left hand is the leading one in terms of tactile talents. Her testimony is more reliable. The left hand more accurately determines the temperature of an object, and the right hand understands its weight better. Asymmetry of tactile abilities already occurs in children. It was found even in six-year-old boys.

In right-handed people, the right hand is slightly longer than the left, and the nail bed of the thumb is longer and wider than on the left hand.
The nose of right-handers deviates to the right, and for left-handers it deviates to the left, the curl of hair on the head of the right-hander is twisted clockwise, and on the top of the left-handers in opposite side. The direction of the curl seems like a complete trifle, but for some reason so many different superstitions are associated with this feature of our hair.

Thus, most of the functions of the human body are expressed asymmetrically, and this is indisputable evidence that the functions of the brain, in turn, are also distributed unevenly between the hemispheres. In other words, man is an extremely lopsided creature.

Boris Sergeev. "Um well.." chapters from the book

The very first references on the Internet say that only every seventh or eighth person is left-handed. The trouble is that they are quite difficult to count, identify and isolate, since many left-handers disguise themselves as right-handed, some are not actually left-handed, but bisexual ... that is, we wanted to write "ambidexters".

It is especially troublesome to identify immigrants from the USSR: Soviet education obligated teachers to retrain left-handers into right-handers at all costs (although many educators, physiologists and psychologists were categorically against such a practice). As a result, those left-handers, from whom the USSR brought up partial right-handers, now work with both hands, have terrible handwriting, feel mentally unbalanced and hate Soviet pedagogy. Bullying of left-handed children in the USSR stopped only in 1986.

We will assume that the left-hander is the one who from birth basic operations(food, computer, drawing, shaving, killing) performs with the left hand. Although in life even a hardcore fanatical left-hander can entrust some actions with great pleasure to his right hand.

Therefore, attempts to count, for example, all brilliant left-handed guitarists are doomed to failure. Yes, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix and in the photographs flaunt with left-handed instruments at the ready. However, the reality is that the vast majority of left-handed guitarists play and pose right-handed because it's easier to learn and easier to find the right instrument.

Revealing a lefty without beating and interrogating with a soldering iron is as easy as shelling pears: sharply ask him to fold his hands into a “lock”, that is, interlace the fingers of both hands. For right-handers, the thumb of the right hand is at the top, for left-handers, the thumb of the left. Surely the method has exceptions, so if it did not work, and the left-hander does not confess, you can go to the soldering iron.

Exist basic theory that right-handed people have a better developed left hemisphere of the brain, while left-handed people have better developed right. We, left-handers, are deeply pleased to realize this, since our right hemisphere is cooler. Well, judge for yourself.

The left hemisphere (the favorite hemisphere of all right-handers there) is responsible for:

Speech, writing, learning, receiving, analyzing, processing and memorizing incoming data (language, mathematical, etc.), well, for moving the right half of the body;

the right hemisphere (beloved hemisphere of us wonderful lefties) is responsible for:

Intuition, processing of figurative information, spatial orientation, musicality, metaphors, imagination, emotions, multi-threaded thinking, movements of the right limbs and - hey - for sex too!

In other words, right-handers are born accountants, managers, and soldiers. And lefties are writers, artists, musicians, bloggers, filmmakers, porn stars, poets and alcoholics. The question remains: who are you with?

At the same time, left-handers can easily make their way to the very top in areas that are infinitely far from creativity.

The most famous modern US presidents turned out to be left-handed: Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Yes, yes, blacks also have a good, pumped right hemisphere of the brain. What about Obama! Ours is also left-handed and a little black.

But the ill-fated President Nixon is a dull right-hander. Who would doubt that!

There are persistent rumors in journalistic circles that V.V. Putin, who you know well, is probably a hidden left-hander. It is possible that here we are talking about that same retrained Soviet schoolboy, as mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Another instructive list: Guy Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro and Mahatma Gandhi are left-handed.

Adolf Hitler is right-handed.

Think again: who are you with?

The topic of actors, musicians, directors and artists is even reluctant to raise: their darkness, and we have an article here, not a telephone directory. Just being observant is enough. Nothing bothers you in the frame below with ?

By the way, this frame is missing, which is also left-handed. But we have collected a million shots more interesting. Look how elegantly signing Scarlett Johansson with her left paw.

The advantages that left-handed people get in sports are very curious. And even at first glance it is not obvious. For example, two of the greatest football players of the last century - Pele and Maradona - are left-handed. Now do you understand what Maradona meant under the hand of God?

Football is actually a symmetrical sport, and the special talents of left-handers Pele and Maradona can be written off as a coincidence (albeit too, oh, how too suspect).

Boxing, fencing, tennis - those sports where left-handedness is generally considered a special advantage.

Because a right-hander, by definition, rarely faces a left-hander in the arena, and he has many times less experience of confrontation against left-handers than left-handers against right-handers. In almost all sports where there are martial arts and fights of this kind, the number of successful left-handers many times exceeds the statistical norm.

So, when humanity again slides down to the level of cave monkeys after the third world war, lefties will win much more often in battles for the title of leader. And lefties will rule the planet!

Apocalypse, of course, is great, but do we, left-handers, have any advantages over right-handed people in everyday life?

Let's take the simplest and most understandable thing that exists in our world - a computer. Imagine that your mouse is not to the right, but to the left of the keyboard. And you play Fallout/Starcraft/Dota/CounterStrike - anything that requires simultaneous mouse and keyboard work. So, for right-handers, by default, buttons are assigned somewhere in the bowels of the keyboard - such as WASD. At the same time, a left-hander, as a free and advanced person, can put his hand on much more comfortable buttons - arrows and numpad.

By the way, according to statistics, among the champions in video games there has always been an unusual high concentration lefties. However, analysts also explain this by the psychophysical advantages of left-handers, somehow: the ability to concentrate consciousness on a variety of objects and easily act intuitively (immediately, as soon as the left-hander’s head sounds: “Use the force, Luke”).

Marketing and logistics experts have figured out that left-handed people can shop much faster in crowded hypermarkets. This is because they check the shelves and pick up goods in the wrong direction than the rest of the customers, and as a result they have to push and queue less.

Scientists in fairly simple experiments have proven that, under equal initial conditions, left-handers often act differently than right-handers. For example, if a group of subjects are asked to choose the left or right picture, right-handers generally choose the right one, while left-handers choose the one on the left. It would seem a trifle, but on its basis far-reaching conclusions can be drawn - for example, for whom left-handed and right-handed people will vote, depending on the design of the ballot.

Thus, if 10-15 beautiful girls immediately claim you, lined up in a row, then the one who knows which hand you have is working has a good chance. Do not listen to the call of the heart, shut up the call of the mind. The hand itself will choose the girl that is needed!

What are you saying? Have you ever been claimed by 10-15 beautiful girls? Strange ... Although, if you are right-handed, it is understandable.

Reference:

The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for: - specific thinking - mathematical calculations - right arm and right leg - speech - right eye and right ear - reading and writing - movement area The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for: - abstract thinking - figurative memory - left arm and left leg - rhythm and perception of music - intonation - left eye and left ear - orientation in space - sensory realm

The left-hander uses his left hand much more often than his right, that is, he uses it when eating and preparing food, writing and doing other daily activities. Contrary to popular belief, the differences between right-handers and left-handers are not limited to which hand a person writes with.

Left-handers have a different brain, because the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity, is more developed. That is, in a right-handed person, the left hemisphere dominates, which is responsible for the right side of the body, and if it dominates right part brain responsible for left side body, the person becomes left-handed.

The degree of dominance of one of the hemispheres can be strongly pronounced, that is, a person can be “one hundred percent” right-handed or left-handed, and weakly expressed, that is, there may be 1-2 signs of “left-handedness”: leading the left eye and left ear, for example, but the leading hand - right.

Causes of left-handedness

Science identifies four main causes of left-handedness:

genetic feature. The dominant of the right hemisphere is inherited. And not only from parents to children, but also through the generation, that is, from grandparents to grandchildren, and sometimes to great-grandchildren. The probability of having a left-handed child, if both parents use their left hand, reaches 46%. It has been established that older mothers are much more likely to give birth to a left-hander. There is also a theory according to which, exposure of the fetus high doses testosterone before birth can lead to a left-handed baby.

Birth trauma or pathology of pregnancy last dates can affect the development of the brain of a child, as a result of which he may become left-handed. Sometimes it is very difficult for such children to control both their right and left hands. There may also be delays in speech, mental and physical development, dysmotility.

"Forced left-handedness". It occurs most often due to an injury to the right hand at an early age.

Imitation. It happens that a child simply imitates one of the left-handed parents, and as a result, left-handedness becomes a habit.

Test for left-handedness

The test for left-handedness is usually done at the age of five, because before that time children can use both their right and left hands equally often.

Only by the fact that the child writes, draws and eats mainly with his left hand, it is not entirely correct to consider him a left-hander, since a real left-hander is one who has not only a left hand, but also a left eye and a left ear - “leading”.

In order to understand which ear is the "leading" one, the child is usually asked to hold the alarm clock with both hands and listen to the clock tick. The ear to which the child will attach the alarm clock will be the “master”.

To determine the "leading" eye, you need to roll a sheet of paper into a tube, give it to the child in both hands and ask through this "spyglass" to look at various items. The sheet will be brought exactly to the "leading" eye.

Don't overtrain!

Psychologists identify some qualities of left-handed children, which in most cases distinguish them from right-handers. In particular, left-handed children are usually much more stubborn than their right-handed peers, and their period of stubbornness is of a protracted nature. At the same time, left-handers are more direct, gullible, easily fall under the influence of momentary feelings and moods. From here grows a tendency to tearfulness, whims, outbursts of rage and anger.

Such children are artistically gifted, they draw well and with pleasure, sculpt from plasticine and clay, many of them have good musical abilities and perfect pitch.

As for the cons and difficulties, many left-handed people begin to speak later than their peers, have difficulties with the pronunciation of certain sounds, with writing, reading and mathematics.

In any case, psychologists emphasize that left-handedness is not a pathology, but an individual version of the norm.

In the USSR, it was believed that left-handed children must be retrained so that they use only their right hand when writing. Only years later they became noticeable and were recognized Negative consequences violent transformation, as a result of which in 1986 at the legislative level the need to retrain left-handers was abolished.

Left-handed retraining is an unsuccessful attempt to remake biological nature child. He can be forced to write and eat with his right hand, but cannot be changed leading hemisphere brain.

Retraining leads to a variety of neuroses, visual impairment, abdominal pain, enuresis, various sleep disorders, changes in appetite, headaches, and stuttering may occur.

Violations can appear both singly and in combination. In addition, retraining is fraught with the fact that the child will study poorly at school, and later at the institute.

How to help a left-handed child?

The leading hand of a left-handed child must be developed from childhood. When learning the alphabet, it is recommended to rely on creative thinking. For example, the letter "F" looks like a pretzel or glasses, and "X" is a walking man, "H" is an upside down chair, and so on.

It happens that left-handed children write letters in the wrong direction when writing, that is, they “mirror” them. At the same time, handwriting in left-handed children has a slope to the left, or may not have it at all.

The workplace of a left-hander should be organized in a special way. At school, such a child should sit to the left of the neighbor so as not to collide with elbows when writing, and as far to the left of the board as possible so that the leading eye and ear are directed to the source of information. , the light should come from the right. The notebook should lie with an inclination to the right, and the lower right corner of the page is directed towards the middle of the chest.

"Left" rulers, pens and sharpeners

For left-handers, they sell special writing utensils: sharpeners with counterclockwise threads, scissors with the blade on the other side, pens with recesses for the fingers of the left hand, allowing you to properly grip the instrument, and even a ruler with the numbers printed in reverse order.

Manufacturers of many goods are trying to focus not only on right-handers, but also on left-handers, making their lives much easier.

In particular, European-style kitchen knives are symmetrical. For left-handers, there are also special corkscrews, computer mice and keyboards, surgical supplies, sporting goods and even musical instruments.

Which famous person was left-handed?

Some studies prove that mental capacity left-handed people are structured differently, they have an extended range of abilities, they are more prone to creativity.

There are many outstanding scientists, poets and composers among the left-handers, politicians People: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Benjamin Franklin, Prince Charles and Prince William, Henry Ford, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Lewis Carroll, Julius Caesar, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sergei Prokofiev, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Kafka, Mireille Mathieu, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Nicolo Paganini, Diego Maradona, Pele, Rafael Nadal and.

Alexander Pushkin, Mark Twain wrote with his left hand. The writer Nikolai Leskov, who glorified the craftsman Lefty, who shod the legs of a flea, was also left-handed.

There are many lefties among politicians: Alexander the Great, Mahatma Gandhi, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, the Queen British Empire Victoria.

Many legislative acts The United States is signed by the left hand of presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.

Actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Julia Roberts, Keanu Reeves, Whoopi Goldberg, Nicole Kidman, Bill Murray and Tom Cruise are also left-handed.

Titova Natalia, mother of three children, two of whom are left-handers

About 15% of people are left-handed, that is, approximately every seventh inhabitant of the planet. Parents, seeing that their child is not like the rest, begin to fear difficulties both in learning and in later life.

A little theory: where do left-handers come from

Who are they left-handed? These are people whose dominant hand is the left. lefties in addition to the left hand, the left leg is used more often, they hear better with the left ear and see more clearly with the left eye. Also in the world is ambidextrous- those who use both the left and right side of the body equally well.

How is it that some people are left-handed and others are right-handed? As a rule, women carried babies on their left hand, closer to their hearts, and male warriors protected the heart area with a shield, so the right hand was freer for both. vigorous activity. Thus, its dominance was determined. Left-handedness is the exception to the rule.

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Left-handedness is also inherited: according to statistics, about 50% of left-handers are born to parents whose dominant hand is the left.

If one of the parents is left-handed, then the child is destined to mainly use the left hand in more than 16% of cases. And if both parents are right-handed, the child will be left-handed only in 6% of cases.

Left-handedness is also a consequence of developmental pathology - from brain developmental disorders to injuries of the right hand in early childhood. But that is another story.

My personal experience: what is the difference between left-handers and right-handers

I am a mother of three children, one of which is right-handed and the other two are pure left-handers. I'll tell you about the difference between them from personal observation.

Right-handed. My right-handed child is not prone to spontaneous actions, unexpected actions, but is always reliable and firm in his beliefs and preferences. He consistently does things, is more structured, he has analytical warehouse mind, a penchant for design activities. Stability and sustainability are important to him, so that everything is in its place - now, tomorrow, in a few years. In all this, the rationalism of the left hemisphere is visible.

Lefty. In contrast, left-handers - both the girl and the boy - are more artistic, have a fine mental organization. This is creative people who love non-standard solutions. They express themselves through feelings, are ready for adventure, change, are more open to the world. Left-handers do not calculate options (“what will happen if ...”), they live here and now, they are ready to do several things at once, they always have a desire to improve what they have. Rearranging the room, going for three weeks, combining football and theatrical activities - what are they not addicted to! By the way, theater, writing poetry, drawing, choir, playing the guitar, coloring paired sneakers in different colors- this is all a consequence of the work of a more creative right hemisphere, which is responsible for the left half of the body.

How did it happen that in one family there are such different children, you ask. My children were partly left-handed through me (I am ambidexter), my grandmother and my uncle, who were partly left-handed. But left-handedness manifested itself in full in children. But the son inherited the genes of right-handedness from his father.

If your child does not show himself left-handed from birth, draw final conclusions about his left-handedness no earlier than 4-4.5 years. To do this, use special tests to determine the leading hand.

Remember: in no case should left-handers be retrained, because of this, serious malfunctions in the work of interhemispheric connections can occur, and this can also be fraught with health problems.

To help your child learn new skills faster, buy special items that are designed for the left hand: pens, scissors, copybooks.

Left-Handed Benefits

Yes, it is a bit difficult for left-handed people to live because of the unsuitability of the world to their characteristics. However, they have many advantages that you need to know and use.

Fast adaptation. The one who was born left-handed has to adapt all his life to life in the right-handed world. And they are good at it.

Creative skills. Left-handed people are more emotional, perceive the world more as visual images. Therefore, they are capable of original artistic creativity.

The ability to turn a non-working hand into a working one. Left-handers use their right hand much more often than right-handers use their left.

There are a lot of left-handed people among brilliant people: the great silent film actor Charlie Chaplin, the inventor and painter Leonardo da Vinci, the Roman emperor Tiberius, the artist Pablo Picasso, the scientist Albert Einstein, the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, the member of The Beatles Paul McCartney, Emperor Napoleon, commander Alexander the Great, composer Ludwig van Beethoven, football player Diego Maradona, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and others.

So, if you or your child turned out to be left-handed, be grateful for such a wonderful gift and use these wonderful advantages in life!