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Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

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Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#101

Post by ivanjermakov »

colkassad wrote: post #99

I always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the…

I think skate stance is much more evenly distributed (closer to 50/50) than handedness (about 10% left).

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#102

Post by hydrogen7800 »

colkassad wrote: post #99

I always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the…

Me too, but on a snowboard. (I suppose I'd be the same on a skateboard) My second time snowboarding was quite a few years after my first, and I just could not get the hang of it, wondering how I was faring so much worse than before. It took me all day to remember I was "goofy", and once I switched it was much better.

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#103

Post by bluGill »

mrsvanwinkle wrote: post #89
bluGill wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know what difference it made and there was one left handed scissors so it went to the kid who knew. I'm left eyed and often wonder if I should have learned to write left handed.

wait, you just gave me an extreme epiphany about my significantly worse right eye myopia. the divergence definitely snowballed from the "use it or lose it" thing and me not wearing my glasses as much as possible

Every study in scientific examination that concept says that for myopia and such things use it or lose it does not apply. Use it or lose it does apply to some things but not that case.

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#104

Post by emporas »

busyant wrote: post #97
emporas wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a long time hypothesis of mine as well, but I think it stems from being stung or bitten by venom. If venom is injected into the bloodstream, it is desirable to be injected as far away from the heart as possible. Some centimeters might not sound much, but over millions of years, the cumulative effect might be that 1% of human population every 10.000 years gets genetically optimized to hold their heart at a more…

Interesting! Handedness is probably not (often) captured in healthcare records, but I'm wondering if epidemiologists could mine insurance claims (or some other data rich resource) to see if there's a correlation with serious outcomes (death, hospitalization, etc.) from venom and handedness.

That's a good idea, a very good idea actually, but I wonder about it's effectiveness due to a very small total number of snake bites nowadays, compared to the past.

Hundreds of thousands years in the past, hominids lived into much more tropical areas than today and there are a lot more spiders, scorpions, lizards and snakes in these warm places. It makes sense that insects and especially reptiles pushed the evolution of mammals in certain directions and the positioning of the heart in the human body might be one of them.

Today people live a much different lifestyle than having to deal with insects and reptiles all day long. I don't know if it is possible to decipher the past from today's data.

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#105

Post by ekaryotic »

tejohnso wrote: post #21
NickC25 wrote: post #14

What does it say for mixed-handed folks like myself (different skillsets per hand - in other words, throw and write with different hands)? What about cross-dominance (different body parts differ on dominant side - in other words, a right-handed person being left-foot dominant)? I've been told that it's effectively a mental illness if discovered during childhood (as is ambidexterity). Yet I can't help but think that i…

In order to present it as a mental illness there would have to be some kind of negative effect, wouldn't there? These differences you mention don't stand out as harmful or even disadvantageous.

southpaws are more common where at least one parent has schizophrenia. i believe it to be caused by an epigenetic change, where damage to the brain in a parent leads to the parent rewiring their brain to use the opposite hemisphere. In short, it's hardly an illness, more of an antibody to one.

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#106

Post by [deleted] »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #94
scythe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my five minute lunchtime hypothesis: it's because the heart is on the left. As human behavior demanded increasing precision from the hands, being a little farther from the heartbeat was a slight advantage.

> Here's my five minute lunchtime hypothesis: it's because the heart is on the left. Your hypothesis can't possibly be correct, because the only premise is false.

[deleted]

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#107

Post by ruffel__ »

colkassad wrote: post #99

I always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the…

[dead]

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#108

Post by dylan604 »

rolph wrote: post #100
thaumasiotes wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes, the point of the solid bone plate right in front of your heart is to block stabbings. And it works! If you had a weapon that wasn't bothered by the presence of the sternum, and you wanted to stab the heart, you'd go right through the sternum.

the risk is one of being unable to extract the weapon expediently. there is an unacceptable risk of having to abandon it.

Unless you're also trying to send a message where leaving the weapon is the message

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#109

Post by taeric »

markb139 wrote: post #90
taeric wrote: post #37

I am curious at what age hand preference develops. And can you exert any influence on that development? In particular, I would expect the influences to be somewhat counter intuitive. With things like having to use the left hand to hold a caregiver's hand in early walking preferencing the right for accessory use. At infant ages, it would be neat to see if preference of holding a baby on a side influences things.

I’m a leftie from a 50% leftie family. Apparently I showed my left handedness as a baby when grasping for things and hardly used my right hand. My mother was also a leftie, but in her generation she was forced to write with her right hand. The net result being she could write equally well with both hands. When I learnt this I tried to copy it.

Right, I know that dexterity in a hand is largely a teachable thing.

And, similarly, I don't think this is unique to hands. It is just that most people don't know what their "dominant" foot or eye are. (I'm now curious to know about dominant ears. That is almost certainly a thing?)

My question is largely one of curiosity to know when the dominance fully sets in.

Re: Why is almost everyone right-handed? A new study connects it to bipedalism

#110

Post by emil-lp »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #101
colkassad wrote: post #99

I always faced left when riding a skateboard back in the day, otherwise known in skater parlance as being "goofy-footed". Facing right felt as difficult as writing with my left hand. I always wondered whether that was just the way I first rode a skateboard and it stuck, but if that was the case, I would expect the distribution of which skateboarders face which way to be about even. But goofy-footed riders are in the…

I think skate stance is much more evenly distributed (closer to 50/50) than handedness (about 10% left).

Citation needed
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