Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

ox.ac.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 263 posts

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

#191

Post by Vachyas »

wincy wrote: post #164
Vachyas wrote: post #151

An interesting anecdote that comes to mind is playing old computer games with arrow keys, which used my right hand. I got pretty proficient with this. Over the years, I (and I imagine many others) switched over to WASD to play newer games with mouse + keyboard, but this meant using the left hand for "arrow keys" Now I can directly compare how proficient I am with WASD vs Arrow Keys and the result surprised me. I was…

I’m left handed and never understood left handed mice at all. I write with my left and swing and kick left handed, but all gaming stuff has always been the same way anyone else does. I’m pretty sure up down left right switching to wasd is a function of that setup being more comfortable with the mouse to the right of the keyboard, correct?

correct, and I think games which needed action keys in addition to arrow keys (but no mouse) preferred arrow keys on the right so the left hand could handle the other moves and stuff.

I write with my left too but using right handed peripherals feels natural. I also use my phone right handed.

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

#192

Post by jolmg »

necheffa wrote: post #163
skyberrys wrote: post #74

The article didn't really help me understand what it was about bipedalism that resulted in a right handed preference. Also in my family left hand dominates, we are a cluster of left handed people. My theory is if any child wants help with fine motor control the help is provided by a left hand to a left hand.

> My theory is if any child wants help with fine motor control the help is provided by a left hand to a left hand. Neither of my parents were left handed, and yet, here I am; despite attempts otherwise I might add.

Kind of feel like preference probably comes from a compounding effect of practice. One starts learning how to do simple things with a chosen hand as a baby and as one tries to learn more complicated things they develop an ever-growing preference to use the one that'll necessitate less practice for the new skill due to already having some practice.

As for which hand is chosen as a baby, it might be most typical to mirror one's parents, but it doesn't always have to be like that. Some babies may just randomly start doing things with a hand different to the preference of their parents due to not having them or other adults in their sight at critical moments. As for parents trying and failing to stop their kids from using their left hand, they might've just caught it too late.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that both you and GP can be correct.

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

#193

Post by didibus »

p00dles wrote: post #140
didibus wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why handed vs ambidextrous Did it even explain that? I'm ambidextrous, I have no handedness bias, so whichever I pick up to first learn something is the hand I use. So I'm a mix of left-handed and right-handed depending on the task. And yet I didn't really understand why that's odd because of my bipedalism?

There is also a category of people who are “mixed-handed”, who have a strong handedness preference for a given task, but which hand one prefers varies based on the task. I didn’t know about this category until recently, but it describes my personal experience. Mildly informative Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dominance

Interesting, but it confuses me a bit.

Ambidextrous means: "that the person has no marked preference for the use of the right or left hand".

Unlike what is normally assumed, it doesn't mean you've mastered both hands, it doesn't imply you can write equally well with the left or the right, but that you could have just as easily learned either. You had no marked preference when you picked up the activity initially.

Cross-dominance seem to imply there was a marked preference, but that it is the left or right hand differs per activity.

That said, I wonder if they're really the same. Often people say ambidextrous as you are equally good with both hands, which would always require practice on both side. But maybe cross-dominant people can equally learn?

Under that reading, cross-dominance could be what ambidexterity actually looks like in practice. If you genuinely have no preference, there's no reason you'd consistently land on the same hand across all activities, you'd be influenced by context, who taught you, which hand was free, etc.

Have you ever tried your other hand at activities? And are you surprisingly good with it, even if not as good? I tend to be better using my other hand at most things than say a fully right handed person, but never as good as the hand I've been using for that activity consistently.

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

#194

Post by sph »

kelipso wrote: post #156
Vachyas wrote: post #151

An interesting anecdote that comes to mind is playing old computer games with arrow keys, which used my right hand. I got pretty proficient with this. Over the years, I (and I imagine many others) switched over to WASD to play newer games with mouse + keyboard, but this meant using the left hand for "arrow keys" Now I can directly compare how proficient I am with WASD vs Arrow Keys and the result surprised me. I was…

Something super simple and revealing is try pressing on the brakes with your left foot.

[dead]

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

#195

Post by abernard1 »

Babies sleep better when their head is near their mother's heart. This seems to be the obvious reason for the left-handed cradling bias [1].

If a baby sleeps better, it cries less. If it cries less, it attracts fewer predators and helps both parents sleep better at night and have more energy. It also allows the mother to do things with her dominant hand if she is right-handed.

Given the left-handed cradling bias exists even with left-handers, it means there is something specific with left-handedness and infant rearing. A baby in the left hand and a tool (or weapon) in the right is biologically efficient.

Most studies take this from the perspective of evolutionary advantage of the individual. They should take it from the perspective of evolutionary advantage of the family, without which the baby does not survive.

If the bias confers evolutionary advantages, that is also important for the longer childhood humans have compared to primates, which supports our larger brains. Any differential here would have a feedback effect.

Wouldn't it be interesting if a key reason humans are the way we are is a mother's love ♥?

[1] https://sites.psu.edu/clarep/2024/04/12/the-left-cradling-bi...

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

#196

Post by sph »

kazinator wrote: post #158

Why is there handedness on stringed instruments? If you're right handed, you strum a guitar with your right hand, fret with the left. But both are fine motor skills requiring coordination. Left handed players go out of their way to acommodate doing it the other way around; either finding left-handed instruments (challenge: most things they might like/want are not available in lefty version) or suffer with a flipped r…

Strength perhaps? I cannot imagine strumming very long with my right hand/arm. I imagine it would get quickly sore. Learning to use a fretboard is hard enough with any hand, might as well use the weakest.

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

#199

Post by admash »

wincy wrote: post #165
xenadu02 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember in elementary school being amused by the idea of handedness so I decided to practice writing with my left hand as well. I'm not great at it but even to this day I can write legibly with my left hand from that little bit of practice as a child. Anyone can get much better at using their non-dominant hand (if they have one) with just a bit of practice. The effect is much much stronger when you do so as a chil…

I realized at some point as a leftie I could trivially learn to write a mirror image of what everyone else was writing so learned to write backwards. Since the motions are exactly what others do it’s actually easier in a lot of ways for me. Left handed writing is all scrunched up and annoying, and I got constant smudges on my hand. Frixion ink pens are the only pen I’ll buy because they don’t smudge at all. My guess…

FWIW, you can also put the paper in the freezer and it will become visible again, though usually not as strong as it was originally.

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

#200

Post by Skwid »

kelipso wrote: post #156
Vachyas wrote: post #151

An interesting anecdote that comes to mind is playing old computer games with arrow keys, which used my right hand. I got pretty proficient with this. Over the years, I (and I imagine many others) switched over to WASD to play newer games with mouse + keyboard, but this meant using the left hand for "arrow keys" Now I can directly compare how proficient I am with WASD vs Arrow Keys and the result surprised me. I was…

Something super simple and revealing is try pressing on the brakes with your left foot.

I do this once or twice a year in a borrowed/hired auto car. Usually about 10 minutes into the drive when I've got used to it, and started to drive more naturally. Approach junction, throttle back, stamp full uncoordinate force of left foot on to 'clutch' pedal, send passengers through the windscreen.
Post reply on HN