Left-handed people are truly talented, science study claims
7 April 2023, 21:15
If you're left-handed you're more likely to hold the advantage, says a scientific study.
Left-handed people are truly exceptional, says a science study that charts the difference between lefties and righties.
Research published by the American Journal of Psychology suggests that people with a dominant left hand prove to be superior in a number of scenarios and tasks, including creativity and sports.
From being better at problem-solving to having extra talents in the arts, the paper claimed that left-handed folk could be more gifted all round.
It's a theory that makes sense considering some of the most brilliant minds in history were left-handed, from Marie Curie and Leonardo da Vinci to Sir Isaac Newton.
In fact many of today's sporting, political, musical and artistic greats are also lefties, including Barack Obama, LeBron James, Lady Gaga and Will Ferrell.
And it's not just this specific report that leans towards the left being extra special.
A string of papers which delve into the pros and cons of using the left hand have been published over the years, with many concluding that lefties come out on top.
In 2019, it was discovered that 20 percent of MENSA members habitually used their left hand – a huge slice considering only 10 percent of the population are lefties.
A study by the Left-Handers' Club also surveyed over 2,000 left-handed, right-handed and ambidextrous people (those who can use both hands equally well) and discovered that lefties were most interested in tech and arts careers.
If you needed more proof that lefties were exceptional, IFL Science backed the theory, too.
One research paper explained that it's all down to how the brain functions.
"Hand preference is a manifestation of brain function and is therefore related to cognition," it said.
"Left-handers exhibit, on average, a more developed right brain hemisphere, which is specialised for processes such as spatial reasoning and the ability to rotate mental representations of objects."
In short, those who write, draw or play sports with their left hand could be some of the most intelligent-minded in the world.
The paper added: "The corpus callosum - the bundle of nerve cells connecting the two brain hemispheres - tends to be larger in left-handers.
"This suggests that some left-handers have an enhanced connectivity between the two hemispheres and hence superior information processing."
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