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

ox.ac.uk

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

#231

Post by hilbert42 »

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…

It's interesting that the piano is essentially a right handed instrument in that melody/the main theme is mostly played by the right hand.

As a left-hander, it's very obvious to me. That said—because of the above point—my right hand is much stronger and more adept at playing. In short, I'm right handed when playing the piano.

No sarcastic comments please, I well know more practice and playing those damn Czerny scales ad nauseam would have restored proper balance. :-)

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

#232

Post by hilbert42 »

wvh wrote: post #207
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've been playing guitar since I was a little kid. I wonder how learning "two-handed" skills such as playing music impacts how "handy" or "polydextrous" one is. There are left-handed guitar players that play right-handed, such as Nick Johnston, who claim the gaps in their technique or preference for certain left-hand-only techniques are informed by being left-handed; so it seems that a life-long of an insane amount o…

See my comment, I'm much better at playing with my less dominant hand (even after many years).

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

#233

Post by hilbert42 »

Danox wrote: post #171
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…

Left-handed individuals living in a predominantly right-handed world possess the capacity to adapt and utilize their right hand effectively. While most right-handed individuals do not exhibit this ability unless they experience an extraordinary event, such as an injury to their right hand, left-handed individuals are compelled to learn how to use their right hand in a right-handed world. As a left-handed individual w…

Very true, see my comment playing piano as a left-hander.

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

#234

Post by olau »

hilbert42 wrote: post #231
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…

It's interesting that the piano is essentially a right handed instrument in that melody/the main theme is mostly played by the right hand. As a left-hander, it's very obvious to me. That said—because of the above point—my right hand is much stronger and more adept at playing. In short, I'm right handed when playing the piano. No sarcastic comments please, I well know more practice and playing those damn Czerny scales…

Can I recommend playing Bach?

The specialization goes both ways, though, I'm much better playing Alberti bass with my left hand compared to the right.

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

#235

Post by postexitus »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #228
postexitus wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the best guitarists I have met are left-handed playing right-handed guitar ones. Which also makes sense - The more difficult part of playing the guitar is not fingering/picking, it's the fretboard. By using their dominant hand on the fretboard they have a genuine advantage. I've never understood why we formed the right handed guitar to have the dominant hand on the body. There must be a reason.

> The more difficult part of playing the guitar is not fingering/picking, it's the fretboard. I would have said the opposite. The fretting hand only needs to press onto the strings in the correct places whereas the picking hand is responsible for all the subtlety of expression in terms of how you attack the string. Saying this as a professional mandolin player fwiw.

While true - left hand changes position all the time and has to go on the correct frets all the time - right hand is gentle and subtler, I agree, but is also a lot more forgiving.

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

#236

Post by hilbert42 »

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?

I'm left-handed too and frankly a left-handed mouse is a nuisance and awkward to use (I never use one), same with other peripherals.

Still I prefer to use scissors with the left hand and most are right-handed. It's a damn nuisance as the loop handles are the wrong way around/wrong size for a leftie.

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

#237

Post by whynotmaybe »

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.

If you usually drive a manual transmission you might have a bad time if you try to brake with your left foot

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

#238

Post by nottorp »

prox wrote: post #203
acetofenone wrote: post #201

As far as I understand, the imbalance of the two hands is due to the collaborative nature of a species (if I teach you something is easyer if we use the same hand). There are advantages of using the other hand as dominant, in fact in competitive environment like ping pong we see a 50-50 split between left and right hands. This is because the left hand has the advantage of being rare and so the majority is not trained…

Ah fun fact, why do we use the word “right” and “left” but also use the word “right” as correct/lawful and use left as thing that is well, left? A linguist theory says that people always been predominantly right handed, so the way you use tools is the “right” (correct) hand, and the one you don’t, well it’s the hand that is “left”. It’s how the word also became the word for directions as well.

Does that go for all languages, or western and mostly germanic languages?

Edit: or maybe indo-european and semitic to be more broad.

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

#239

Post by chrisweekly »

inejge wrote: post #206
prox wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah fun fact, why do we use the word “right” and “left” but also use the word “right” as correct/lawful and use left as thing that is well, left? A linguist theory says that people always been predominantly right handed, so the way you use tools is the “right” (correct) hand, and the one you don’t, well it’s the hand that is “left”. It’s how the word also became the word for directions as well.

> Ah fun fact, why do we use the word “right” and “left” but also use the word “right” as correct/lawful and use left as thing that is well, left? A linguist theory says that people always been predominantly right handed, so the way you use tools is the “right” (correct) hand, and the one you don’t, well it’s the hand that is “left”. It's a bit more varied, even in the Indo-European family. What does tend to happen i…

Noteworthy that Latin "dexter" (right) pairs with "sinister" (left).

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

#240

Post by chrisweekly »

Danox wrote: post #171
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…

Left-handed individuals living in a predominantly right-handed world possess the capacity to adapt and utilize their right hand effectively. While most right-handed individuals do not exhibit this ability unless they experience an extraordinary event, such as an injury to their right hand, left-handed individuals are compelled to learn how to use their right hand in a right-handed world. As a left-handed individual w…

I'm right handed, but have a weird mix of "handedness" when it comes to sports: righty for lacrosse but lefty for hockey; higher batting avg righty but more power swinging for the fences lefty. I can balance much more easily on my left leg than my right - maybe partly due to muscle memory from soccer (righty to a fault, though scored plenty of goals and assists lefty, albeit ~always reactive / in the moment, vs free kicks w/ time to think) and skateboarding (stand w left, push w right).
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