Some curiosities of lefties
28/10/2020
Some curiosities of lefties
A 'Business Insider' article shares some of the quirks about left-handers, who are about 13% of the world's population:
1) Twins thing
Twins are more likely to be left-handed, although it's not clear why.
2) Only chimpanzees and humans
In most animal species there is no bias in the use of hands, half the population of one species usually uses the right more, while the other half uses the left more frequently. This does not occur in the case of chimpanzees or humans. About 90% of people and 70% of chimpanzees are right-handed.
Left-handers aren't smarter than right-handers, but they are better at solving lateral thinking problems
3) Parrots, the most left-handed
Parrots often use their left side more. A study that analyzed 320 Australian parrots found that 47% of those studied preferred to use the left claw to feed, while 33% used the right claw more. The rest use one and the other interchangeably.
4) Question of hemispheres
The left cerebral hemisphere dominates areas such as the tongue, both in sound and speech. It has been shown that in the right-handed case, this hemisphere is the dominant one in 95% of cases. In contrast, 70% of left-handed people dominate the right hemisphere. In the remaining 30%, neither of the two clearly dominates or the left does.
5) Baseball is left-handed
About 25% of the players in the American Major League Baseball are left-handed. They are believed to have a slight advantage over right-handers, since depending on their body position when hitting they are one step closer to first base.
6) They are smarter
Lefties don't score differently on IQ tests, but are better at solving lateral thinking problems. They are more skillful, for example, when combining two objects to form a third or by grouping words in as many categories as possible.
