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What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

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Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#41

Post by topmonk »

benj111 wrote: post #31
topmonk wrote: post #17

I'm left handed and have been studying Chinese for about 6 months, for 2 hours per day. Out of curiosity, I decided to learn writing Chinese characters with my right hand (also because I thought it was cool to be able to write English with my left hand while writing Chinese with my right hand at the same time). I'm in my forties for additional context. I've discovered the following things: * I've always had a moderat…

>I thought it was cool to be able to write English with my left hand while writing Chinese with my right hand at the same time So can you? Reliably? Btw, havent you made a tactical error? English is left to right, so kind of optimsed for righties. Chinese is top to bottom so more ambidextrous? Perhaps phase 2 could use Hebrew for the left hand? English for the right? Ps. But yes very cool :)

> So can you? Reliably?

I just tried this. I'm used to looking at what I'm writing when I write, so I can't seem to do this with my eyes open.

If I close my eyes and prime myself to write one individual word, that means approximately the same thing, such as "是" and "am", I can do it. If I try to write two words with different meanings, such as ball and "椅" I cannot. My right hand starts to work and then just stops, and I have the feeling of confusion arise.

> Btw, havent you made a tactical error? English is left to right, so kind of optimsed for righties. Chinese is top to bottom so more ambidextrous? Perhaps phase 2 could use Hebrew for the left hand? English for the right?

I suppose so, but I wasn't motivated enough to relearn how to write English with my right hand just for this experiment. As far as learning to write Chinese with my right hand, I figured it wouldn't really add much to the effort, since most of my time was trying to remember the damn characters versus actually writing them.

I guess I'll just have to live with two ink stained patches regularly appearing on the outsides of both of my hands :)

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#44

Post by lolcat5e »

gabelerner wrote: post #5
roryrjb wrote: post #2

"For Southpaws themselves — the affectionate term for lefties ", yeah maybe in the US but not where I'm from. Anyway, I write left handed and hold a pool cue left handed (and also I think I'm correct in saying this: I would hold a rifle left handed), but in every other way that I can think of, I am right handed. I've always thought that was weird, I mean at least compared to others. Anyone else have similar experienc…

left: - write - pool cue - brush teeth - scissors - spoon - fork right: - throw - punch - tennis/ping pong - knife i've always seen it as left=precision, right=force for me

Ditto.

Have you tried using a mouse (in right) and a graphics tablet (in left) at the same time? It can be very productive. Large sweeping movements with the mouse and fine detail with the left. Plus it impresses righties.

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#45

Post by winchling »

zxcb1 wrote: post #4

The expression "Right hand" is ambiguous.

Yes, another person's left hand is on the right hand side of the observer. I remember finding this labelling convention confusing as a child.

However it does makes sense given that we very readily 'map' our own bodies onto those of others. Is this the very reason why we become right-handed: are we are copying the majority? True or not, it would be even more confusing the other way around.

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#46

Post by Hoasi »

Freak_NL wrote: post #35
Hoasi wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, the "right-handed" way always felt more natural for me (left-handed). Interesting how tradition beats logic though.

Hey, let us south-paws have this one societal convention that feels natural to us! Although to be honest, for gaming left-handed use of a mouse combined with the keyboard arrow keys for movement makes sense as well. None of these awkwardly aligned WASD-keys for us, just ↑←↓→ (conveniently marked with arrows already), and a bit of space around them so you don't accidentally lob a grenade when you step to the left.

> Hey, let us south-paws have this one societal convention that feels natural to us!

Haha, sure, no complaints on this one. Not to mention plenty of other cases where left-handedness is an actual advantage (tennis, boxing, etc.)

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#47

Post by indiandragon »

EngineerBetter wrote: post #23

Eating "right-handed" has always seemed irrational to me. It dates back to medeival eating traditions when folks only had a knife - therefore, it was held in the right hand as it was the primary and only implement. Fast forward to the present day, and the fork is the primary implement. Hence, to my mind, it makes significantly more aense to hold the fork in one's dominant hand.

> Carl Sagan once hypothesized that the cultural link between left-handedness and badness arose due to the left hand’s use for hygiene purposes in nonindustrialized countries

e.g In India, people eat with their right hand and clean shit with their left; both in bare hands along with water without any tools.

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#49

Post by coldtea »

EngineerBetter wrote: post #23

Eating "right-handed" has always seemed irrational to me. It dates back to medeival eating traditions when folks only had a knife - therefore, it was held in the right hand as it was the primary and only implement. Fast forward to the present day, and the fork is the primary implement. Hence, to my mind, it makes significantly more aense to hold the fork in one's dominant hand.

>Fast forward to the present day, and the fork is the primary implement. Hence, to my mind, it makes significantly more aense to hold the fork in one's dominant hand.

Well, depending on the country, that's what we do. Even right handed people will switch the knife to the right hand to cut something and then get back to eating with the fork on the right hand.

https://www.thekitchn.com/survey-using-your-knife-and-fork-1...

Re: What Left-Handedness Reveals About How the Brain Works (2014)

#50

Post by coldtea »

indiandragon wrote: post #47
EngineerBetter wrote: post #23

Eating "right-handed" has always seemed irrational to me. It dates back to medeival eating traditions when folks only had a knife - therefore, it was held in the right hand as it was the primary and only implement. Fast forward to the present day, and the fork is the primary implement. Hence, to my mind, it makes significantly more aense to hold the fork in one's dominant hand.

> Carl Sagan once hypothesized that the cultural link between left-handedness and badness arose due to the left hand’s use for hygiene purposes in nonindustrialized countries e.g In India, people eat with their right hand and clean shit with their left; both in bare hands along with water without any tools.

Hopefully with some hand washing involved in between...
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