According to the study, human handedness can be caused by genes and the development environment during both fetal and postpartum stages. Brain development also plays an important role in determining human handedness.
Is left-handedness really more creative? Brain wave scan results will give the answer.
Left-handed people tend to tap the right brain region more often , which means they tend to solve problems more creatively.
Scientists have been studying human handedness for more than a century, and discoveries have revealed a lot about how the human brain might work differently.
For a long time, many sources still believe that left-handed people always have a certain strength and talent. But is that really the case?
In fact, the brains of left-handed people are different from those of right-handed people.
In particular, according to Eric Zillmer, professor of neuropsychology at Drexel University, left-handed people are less likely to experience the phenomenon of brain biasing to one side than right-handed people.
The one-sided brain phenomenon is the theory that the human brain is divided into two halves – the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere – each of which is responsible for its own set of functions.
Left-handed people tend to tap the right brain region more often.
The left side of the brain is usually associated with speaking, writing, arithmetic, language and grasping abilities, while the right side of the brain controls creativity, musical and artistic skills…
If a researcher starts talking to you and scans your brain with fMRI in the process, the left hemisphere (which is associated with language) will usually be brighter than the right hemisphere. That’s what researchers have found in most right-handed people – for language-related tasks, the left hemisphere is more active than the right.
But scientists have found the opposite for most lefties.
Most left-handed people’s right hemispheres showed more activity on language tasks. Since left-handed people are less dependent on the left hemisphere of their brains, the researchers take this to mean they are less likely to experience one-sided brain phenomenon.
And left brain and right brain differ not only in terms of language .
A 2010 study on handedness and face perception found that left-handed people use both hemispheres of the brain when looking at a face. As for right-handed people, face perception is largely concentrated in the right hemisphere of the brain.
What does this have to do with the level of creativity?
Zillmer says differences in the phenomenon of one-sided brain phenomenon may help left-handed people think in a new way, and therefore have a more creative advantage.
Left-handed people think in new ways, have a more creative advantage.
Perhaps the most convincing studies on the link between handedness and creativity are those of people with high levels of schizophrenia – personality traits that resemble schizophrenia but are not as severe. equal.
In the early 2000s, many research groups found an interesting association between highly creative people – such as professional musicians and visual artists – and high levels of schizophrenia.
What’s more, people with marked schizophrenia also showed that the right hemisphere of the brain was more active for tasks normally performed by the left hemisphere – similar to what was observed in people with schizophrenia. left-handed and ambidextrous.
The right hemisphere of the brain is involved in analytical thinking.
So, if people with a high degree of schizophrenia are more creative, it could be implied that left-handed people can also be more creative than right-handed people. Of course, more research is needed to support this inference.
It should be noted that the right hemisphere of the brain is involved in analytical thinking – that is, the ability to think creatively about some unique solution to a particular problem. So, if left-handed people tend to tap into that area of the brain more often, it also means that they tend to solve problems more creatively.
The ability for left-handed people to be more creative may also be partly due to the fact that they constantly have to adapt to a world built for right-handed people.
Katina Bajaj, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Daydreamers, says this inadvertently gives left-handed people the opportunity to use their imagination more often, thereby helping them nurture nurture creativity.
About 10% of the population is left-handed.
“Our creative brain is used when we engage in new, unfamiliar experiences,” says Bajaj. Since left-handed people are constantly adjusting to the world of most right-handed people, they have to use their imagination more, and over time they are also more imaginative and creative. “
Researchers don’t know exactly why about 10% of the population is left-handed. But some research has suggested how and when to determine the dominant hand.
In one study, researchers found that they could reasonably predict a child’s propensity to use their dominant hand by observing which hand they preferred to move while still in the womb. mother .
And a more recent study in 2020 has found that being left-handed is at least partly genetic and may be determined entirely by genetics.
But environmental factors can’t be ignored either, says Zillmer. For example, a child of a left-handed parent is likely to also be left-handed due to imitation, regardless of which hand movement they prefer while in the womb.
Being handed is at least partly genetic.
And the same goes for creativity: “Many studies show that some people are born with a higher degree of openness than others,” says Bajaj. “And in my opinion, the more we cultivate creativity, the more it grows.”
After all, if you want to be more creative, practice. If you want to use your left hand more often, practice. When there is enough willpower, the brain will be completely in your control .