Left handers = smarter people

Originally posted by Johnmike
The left hand is controlled by the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Bravo. At least someone paid attention in frapping biology class.

Sometimes I am just amazed at what I read here.

Its all irrelevant, because the brain acts as a reciever for your consciousness, not the creator of it, therefore left/right side of the brain, doesn't make any difference what so ever in regards to intelligence.

And intelligence is dodgy anyway. You only have intelligence when you recieve and process information...and if life is one big conspiracy, therefore your missing some information and technically aren't as "intelligent" as someone who knows his conspiracies/truth. Hawkings mite be the most intelligent guy on the planet, but as far as im concerned, he is nothing more than a good logical thinker, and not a genius.

Awareness is what its all about. Some people naturally wake up to the fact that theres more to life than meets the eye, and some die without ever even contemplating such matters..

Here's a weird bit o' trivia for you lefties.

Know how a lot of you "hook" your hand to write, or have to turn the page sideways?

Here's why.

You will "hook" if your speech center is on the same side of the brain as your dominant hand.

Most people's Wernicke and Broca's centers are on the left side. Thus, most lefties 'hook'. However, this isn't in stone. Some folks have their speech centers in the right hemisphere. In this case, if you're left handed, you won't hook, but if you're right handed, you will.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam
You will "hook" if your speech center is on the same side of the brain as your dominant hand.

Interesting, I am not a hooker, though I am a lefty but I didn't know anything about the specifics of who hooks and who doesn't.

Thanks for sharing!!

I just thought of something, while I am a lefty, I play golf righthanded, and tend to hook the ball, is this just lack of talent or something with my brain wiring? I could save some money from lessons if it is something I can't fix in the first place.

[edit on 2007/4/16 by JacKatMtn]

Very interesting topic.

I was also born left handed, and my mother forced me to become right handed. I think it was simply because she knew it would be a little harder for me to grow up left handed I guess. My little brother is also left handed, but my mother gave up on him rather quick so he still uses his left hand more often.

As far as the difference in my brother and me, he is very much the average american born privlaged popular jock that follows the flock. I am completely the opposite, I've always been into subculture type lifestyles more than the average, I am much more artistic, and have always had an open mind and respect for almost all things.

My tattoo artist is left handed though, he's a wonderful artist, maybe that's why, haha.

The left hand is controlled by the right side of the brain and vice versa as mentioned, but if hand use reflects intelligence wouldn't that place the ambidextrous solidly in the lead.

The corpus callosum, the part of the brain that links both hemispheres, has been discovered to be shrunken and atrophied in the male brain, a result, it appears, of testosterone; the mutated condition of the Y chromosome.

While biblical text insists that Eve was created from Adams rib, biology evinces a more traditional Native American view, that the female is the template and the male a mutation of that template - The Y chromosome in the XY determinant of sex, is actually an X that has lost a leg.

And so, the shrunken corpus callosum, distinct to the male brain, implies inferior communication between the hemispheres. If brain chemistry and hemispheric communication implies intelligence, I will have to go with the ambidextrous.

Cool subject,

Well I think there are multiple ways to look at this

I write about the same with both hands though I am naturally inclined
to write left handed just as I am naturally inclined to play guitar and
play sports with my right hand. I can throw and catch equally well with both hands.

at any rate I think we as lefties are just more stubborn from having to put up with the spiral binding you find on notebooks made for the right hander.

Incidentally my father started out left handed and they made him change to right.

Later
Geo

[edit on 4/16/2007 by geocom]

I started out left handed and then taught myself to be ambidextrous at the age of 12. I don't know if I can still do it but I used to be able to write upside down and backwards with both hands at the same time. What is that worth you ask? It's not worth a plug nickel and in fact at the age of 36 I ran my left index finger backwards thru a table saw blade lengthwise from the tip down thru my first knuckle. A 1/8" wide swath. After that I completely lost my keyboard skills. To this day I still can't type correctly.

I have always been an artist but am quite analytical as well. My big drawback is that when we hit algebra in school my math skills went in the dumper.

I do believe that becoming ambidextrous helped to open up some unused potential of my left brain. If I can do it anyone can.

Fellow lefty checking in here. Can't say I'm smarter than the average bear, but I've been told that I am more creative than most.

Originally posted by ShadowyfoeCreativity knows no bounds. Thank you.

Umm, youre basically saying "Its not what you got, but what you do with it."

Sure, thats true.

But by the same token, bread isnt sweet till you let your saliva break it down...

By that I mean, some things are just naturally one way - sugar is sweet.. its say, left handed... carbohydrates arent naturally sweet, but you end up tasting sweet by chewing it for a while - working on it.

so you'll always have a sweetness, as long as you want it... meh, lol maybe not a good comparison..




[edit on 16/4/2007 by badw0lf]

Originally posted by Landis

Originally posted by Johnmike
The left hand is controlled by the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Bravo. At least someone paid attention in frapping biology class.

Sometimes I am just amazed at what I read here.

I never went to biology class..

umm.. but I knew about how the hemispheres work..

Im a born lefter, forced righter, suck at math but infinitely infatuated with science - the universe and quantum mechanics drive me crazy with thoughts..

I can create some groovy images given time (and pspro), can play any tune just by hearing it, but cant play an instrument on the fly to save my life (hence Im a perfect cover band lead guitarist.)

I fail to represent anything logical you just supported then, really..

should I smack myself or clap. Im opting for starting at the monitor some more instead.

*disclaimer: all typos are made under the influence of beer. so hush*

just wondering...

Originally posted by badw0lf
...I never went to biology class...

In any case, you know which side of the brain controls what.

Congratulations on your best guess.

I would say that I am partially ambdex. Some things I can do either handed, some things I can not. For years in school I wrote left handed on the chalkboard to give myself more room when we were all forced to go up in groups. But on a horizontal surface my writing was slowed and penmanship degraded with my left hand. Another oddity was that I could start in the middle of a page and mirror write and a good speed without thinking although without some concentration e, c and g would not be backwards while printing with the left hand.

I suck at playing the guitar right handed but never tied left handed.
With drums I must have a right handed setup but usually have to start left handed to keep the beat without thinking. Pickup beats played or not is my usual work around to keep matched sticking in drum lines.

Some things are a learned condition, all sporting things are done right handed not sure how hand-eye cordination would work left handed as I never tried. Throwing left handed is a stiff arm style with a short but accurate range. Thrownig darts or knives left handed is a hit or miss at best as right handed is more accurate and smoother as well as stronger.

So I guess I would be right dominate for power yet more left learning fine manipulations such as shuffling and dealing a deck of cards or detailed carving with the right hand doing bulk roughing.

Originally posted by coastlinekid
Don't take this the wrong way, but I heard back in history, people used to wipe their ass with the left hand, and for a long time it was considered the dirty hand. This of course was a long time ago...

Again, no offense intended...

This is quite true. It's also where the term 'cack-handed' derives from. But left-handed people are generally far more artistic and creative than right handed people. In the Middle Ages people could be accused of being witches for being left-handed - the word 'sinister' means left.

Left-handers have the disadvantage of living in a right-handed world and they have to overcome this. For example if you buy a camcorder today it will be designed for use in the right hand only.

Left-handers are generally less agressive than right-handers.

Left-handers are more likely to have a speech impediment like stuttering.

Left-handers are great designers, musicians, artists, creators, thinkers, actors, writers.

Left-handers have superior spatial vision.

Left-handers are more honest than right-handed people - ie they find it difficult to lie and deceive.

Left-handers look younger in later years than right-handers

Right-handers outnumber left-handers by about 10 to 1.


A few left handers:

Leonardo Da Vinci
Michelangelo
Judy Garland
Charlie Chaplin
Raphael
H G Wells
Henry Ford
Uri Geller
Kurt Cobain
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
Robert DeNiro
Oprah Winfrey
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Tom Cruise
Ben Stiller
Dan Aykroyd (yeah!)

Some not so good left-handers:

Jack the Ripper (perhaps)
Osama Bin Laden

I'm left handed and when I was very young I wrote from right to left and found it easier to write using 'mirror writing' i.e. backwards. I only vaguely recall this but my mum tells me that I was fluent and that they had to work hard to get me to do things the 'right' way round.

Mirror writing is something else that is traditionally associated with witchcraft and Satanism...

Here's a twist:

I used to be left-handed.

But in my case, my being right-handed at present, wasn't of my 'choice'.

Wayyyyyyyy back, when I first learned 'how to write', I started off as left-handed.

My parents/teachers watched 'how' I wrote and (tested for 'ambidextrous' qualities and the like), they would take the pencil/pen, out my left hand and put it into my right hand; all the while watching to see my reactions.

I demonstrated that I could write with both hands. (I'm not 'tooting my horn' over anything; just what had transpired)

Long story short:

Around the time, when I was 8 yrs old, I fell out of a tree (no jokes needed here; I literally fell out of a tall tree and landed on a boulder); my left arm was shattered (from shoulder to wrist) - broke in so many places that my arm was in a cast for close to 3 months.

In the meantime, while I was attending school, I put the pencil in my right hand, and continued on with writing. (life goes on)

I adapted. Today I'm right-handed.

Can I still write with my left hand?

It's legible...Somewhat...LOL

But as far as people being more smarter/more creative...I don't know folks.

IMO, people have shown remarkable 'skills', when using 'either' the left or right hemisphere of the brain.

There were so many studies/C.A.T.scans etc...to point to certain areas of the brain that 'exhibit' certain traits. Anyhoo...

Remains to be seen.

I'm just happy that I have an 'arm' to work with in my life.

P.S.

I'm glad my parents didn't 'get after me' in a negative way about being left-handed; the so called 'phobias' about left-handers.

[edit on 16-4-2007 by TheDuckster]

[edit on 16-4-2007 by TheDuckster]

[edit on 16-4-2007 by TheDuckster]

I'm a lefty also,and a high school drop out.Not because i couldn't do the work,but because i was too stupid to realize how important an education is inthe game of life.I do everything with my left hand except throwing a baseball or football.For that i use my right.I was really good at art in school though.

A good friend of mine works for GE, specifically heading up the turbine devision(s) which include everything from writing the manuals to overseeing builds/installs on foreign ground. Needless to say, he is very intelligent. I can remember years ago while he was still being 'trained' for this avenue, and he told me that out of the 17 or so people in this area of employment, 15 were left handed (including him). At the time neither of us knew of any logical reason but both he and I concluded that there had to be something to it. It was too unbelievable for 'chance' in both of our minds.


On a side note, there are no left handers in all of China. The left hand is/was considered 'dirty' and all are trained righties from birth.

[edit on 16-4-2007 by HomeBrew]

[edit on 16-4-2007 by HomeBrew]

[edit on 16-4-2007 by HomeBrew]

I think maybe left handed people aren't naturally more intelligent, it seems to me they're forced to push themselves to adapt to a right handed world, resulting in more connections between the left and right hemispheres. I imagine if right handed people tried doing things more with the left hand, the same thing would happen. I hope that makes sense.
That said, I'm right handed and stink at math, but I've always been good at art and music.