In their analysis of 144 handedness and brain laterality studies—accounting for a total of nearly 1.8 million individuals—University of Oxford psychologists Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, PhD, and Maryanne Martin, PhD, found that males are about 2 percent more likely to be left-handed than females.
Hand preference probably arises as part of the developmental process that differentiates the right and left sides of the body (called right-left asymmetry). More specifically, handedness appears to be related to differences between the right and left halves (hemispheres ) of the brain.
Most of the current research suggests that left-handedness has an epigenetic marker—a combination of genetics, biology and the environment. Because the vast majority of the population is right-handed, many devices are designed for use by right-handed people, making their use by left-handed people more difficult.
Ethnic differences in handedness are related to geographi- cal differences, with left-handedness generally being more common in White, Asian and Hispanic populations – a differ- ence seen both in the UK, and historically in the United States, where the difference between ethnic groups has grown smaller during the ...
McManus which found that the Netherlands has one of the world's highest prevalences of left-handedness at 13.23 percent. The United States isn't far behind with a rate of 13.1 percent while neighboring Canada has 12.8 percent. Elsewhere, rates of left-handedness are far lower and China is a good example.
The left and right of it all
The prevalence of left-handedness varies across the world – from 3.5 per cent in China to more than 13 per cent in the Netherlands. Australia sits with about 10 per cent of the population.
However, post-hoc exploration of their and other sets of data has shown that there is an apparent tendency for left-handedness to be more prevalent in the period March-July than in the period August-February. The present work tested this seasonal hypothesis prospectively among university students.
In their analysis of 144 handedness and brain laterality studies—accounting for a total of nearly 1.8 million individuals—University of Oxford psychologists Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, PhD, and Maryanne Martin, PhD, found that males are about 2 percent more likely to be left-handed than females.
Because a large majority of words on the qwerty keyboard are typed solely with the left hand (around 3,000 words with the left hand, but only about 400 with the right), left handers are likely to be faster typers since they're using their dominant hand.
Left-handedness occurs in about 8% of the human population. It runs in families and an adoption study suggests a genetic rather than an environmental origin; however, monozygotic twins show substantial discordance.
A straightforward genetic link hasn't been proven, and it is possible for two right-handed parents to have a left-handed child. Theories include: Genes – perhaps genetic factors predispose a child to favour the right hand. A single gene might be passed from parents to children to influence which hand a child favours.
“When we're left-handed, our right brains are usually dominant, and that's where creativity and intuition are centered. So it's often easier for us to be creative than logical.
Elon Musk is right handed.
A 1967 study by Douglas found no evidence to correlate mathematical ability with left-handedness or ambidexterity. The study compared the people who came in the top 15% of a mathematics examination with those of moderate mathematical ability, and found that the two groups' handedness preferences were similar.
Browse through a list of history's most famous left-handers and you are likely to see Albert Einstein's name. You may even see people tying Einstein's genius to his left-handedness.
Being a leftie has a genetic component, is linked to better verbal skills and is associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease, according to a new study published in the journal Brain.
Lefties--or at least relatives of lefties--may be better than right-handed people at remembering events, according to a new study. Since the mid-1980s, scientists have known that the two brain hemispheres of left-handers are more strongly connected than those of right-handers.
Research shows that men are more likely to be left-handed than women. About 90 percent of Americans are right-handed and only about 10 percent are left-handed.
About 10 percent of the population is left-handed. The rest are right-handed, and there are also about 1 percent who are ambidextrous, which means they have no dominant hand. Not only are lefties outnumbered about 9 to 1 by righties, there are health risks that appear to be greater for left handers, too.
When the students were divided into two groups as right-handers (EHI +1 to +100) and left-handers (EHI -100 to -1) using the broadest definition of handedness, a higher percentage of left-handers was found in the dyslexic group (17.8% vs. 8.9% in the control group).
The "highest risk" group is said to be those who are first born to older mothers (aged 30 or over) (Bakan et aI., 1973).
Referencing the mean proportions of left-handedness singletons are 8.5 percent, dizygotic twins are 14 percent and monozygotic twins are 14.5 percent. Using this data, it is theorized that twins have higher prevalence for left-handedness because of prenatal complications.
Eleven percent of the population is born left-handed, and if they seem different, it's because they are! Learn six tips for raising a left-handed child.