Throughout history someone who was left handed was thought of as weak, or evil. Even the Catholic Church used to publicly denounce left handed people as servants of Satan only a couple of centuries ago. Meanwhile being right handed was thought of being correct, and strong, the opposite of left. The origin of this is unknown, although it makes sense when one considers that the majority of the human population is right handed while only a small portion is left handed. But countless cultures and languages take some form of denouncing left as being incorrect or weak. In English this is somewhat evident when you consider that the direction “right” can also mean correct. Even though the English language doesn’t explicitly denounce left has being
…show more content…
The earliest documented study on handedness dates all the way back to Plato who was alive over 2,400 years ago. He hypothesised that mothers typically held their child in their left arm so their dominant hand, or right hand, was free to do other tasks. In return, the baby would hold onto their mother with their right hand, allowing their left hand to explore and ultimately make their left hand their dominant hand. Looking back, this theory was quickly disproved. If it was accurate, handedness would alternate each generation, when historical data shows us it’s stayed at about the same percentages with the majority of population being right handed for generations. Ever since Plato gave his two cents about handedness, many others have. Some theories range from it being a genetic disposition, to left handed people have backwards brains, to left handedness is a survival mechanism in violent time periods, or a more natural solution where the brain picks one hand to automatically use to make thinking easier and actions done faster. Now matter what the theory for the time period was, data shows that about 10% of the worlds population is left handed at any given …show more content…
A human brain is made up of two hemispheres, and each hemisphere is responsible for different functions. The left side of the brain is known to control “logical functions”, which are functions like numbers, analysis, logic, lists, linearity, and sequence. The left side of the brain also controls the right half of the body. Inversely, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, as well as “creative functions”. These creative functions are rhythm, spatial awareness, color, imagination, daydreaming, and dimensioning. It is believed, but not confirmed, that left handed people have a more symmetrical brain, meaning functions are more evenly distributed between both hemispheres. Again there is no proof for this but when you look at the leaderboards for more combative sports which require rapid reaction, and good spatial judgement such as fencing, seven out of sixteen of the top fencers in the world are left handed. That means nearly fifty percent of the top sixteen are left handed combatants, while only ten percent of the world population is the same
The earliest documented study on handedness dates all the way back to Plato who was alive over 2,400 years ago. He hypothesised that mothers typically held their child in their left arm so their dominant hand, or right hand, was free to do other tasks. In return, the baby would hold onto their mother with their right hand, allowing their left hand to explore and ultimately make their left hand their dominant hand. Looking back, this theory was quickly disproved. If it was accurate, handedness would alternate each generation, when historical data shows us it’s stayed at about the same percentages with the majority of population being right handed for generations. Ever since Plato gave his two cents about handedness, many others have. Some theories range from it being a genetic disposition, to left handed people have backwards brains, to left handedness is a survival mechanism in violent time periods, or a more natural solution where the brain picks one hand to automatically use to make thinking easier and actions done faster. Now matter what the theory for the time period was, data shows that about 10% of the worlds population is left handed at any given …show more content…
A human brain is made up of two hemispheres, and each hemisphere is responsible for different functions. The left side of the brain is known to control “logical functions”, which are functions like numbers, analysis, logic, lists, linearity, and sequence. The left side of the brain also controls the right half of the body. Inversely, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, as well as “creative functions”. These creative functions are rhythm, spatial awareness, color, imagination, daydreaming, and dimensioning. It is believed, but not confirmed, that left handed people have a more symmetrical brain, meaning functions are more evenly distributed between both hemispheres. Again there is no proof for this but when you look at the leaderboards for more combative sports which require rapid reaction, and good spatial judgement such as fencing, seven out of sixteen of the top fencers in the world are left handed. That means nearly fifty percent of the top sixteen are left handed combatants, while only ten percent of the world population is the same