I agree. Unfortunately "common sense" and "fandom" are words that don't always go together :p
I'm totally curious about lefties who were forced to be righties (or vice versa, but I don't think there's much of that going around), and whether or not that did affect brain development.
Me too. I've always wanted to pick up an study abut the subject, but I haven't found one yet that delves deep into the issue. As I understand it, though, using one hand over the other should affect your brain development, since it means that one side of the brain will be used more often than another and, as a result, will form more neuronal paths. If you switch hands then the development of the brain should switch lobes, too. Problem is that switching hands is no easy task, since it involves a good amount of neural "rewiring" until the less favored hand adquires an equal status to the favored hand - and the more you grow up, the harder it is for your brain to rewire itself.
And as for why we are right-handed, nobody knows for sure. It is not an entirely human thing, either, since most animals prefer one side over the other (IIRC, cats tend to be righties, parrots tend to be lefties). One theory I've heard is that if you keep doing things with one hand only you learn faster than if you used two indistinctly so evolution prefers those who can use only one hand over the ambidextrous. But as for why humans tend to be right handed... well, no idea. Some argue that it is a mere random thing that is reinforced by cultural and social rules, while other maintain that it is coded somewhere inside us.
Brain development in children is one of my favorite subjects, but it is not exactly the easiest of fields to research. But if I ever get enough will force and dough to study that education doctorate I'll try to dig as much in this topic as I can and I'll send you a copy of my doctorate thesis ;)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-07-16 09:50 pm (UTC)I agree. Unfortunately "common sense" and "fandom" are words that don't always go together :p
I'm totally curious about lefties who were forced to be righties (or vice versa, but I don't think there's much of that going around), and whether or not that did affect brain development.
Me too. I've always wanted to pick up an study abut the subject, but I haven't found one yet that delves deep into the issue. As I understand it, though, using one hand over the other should affect your brain development, since it means that one side of the brain will be used more often than another and, as a result, will form more neuronal paths. If you switch hands then the development of the brain should switch lobes, too. Problem is that switching hands is no easy task, since it involves a good amount of neural "rewiring" until the less favored hand adquires an equal status to the favored hand - and the more you grow up, the harder it is for your brain to rewire itself.
And as for why we are right-handed, nobody knows for sure. It is not an entirely human thing, either, since most animals prefer one side over the other (IIRC, cats tend to be righties, parrots tend to be lefties). One theory I've heard is that if you keep doing things with one hand only you learn faster than if you used two indistinctly so evolution prefers those who can use only one hand over the ambidextrous. But as for why humans tend to be right handed... well, no idea. Some argue that it is a mere random thing that is reinforced by cultural and social rules, while other maintain that it is coded somewhere inside us.
Brain development in children is one of my favorite subjects, but it is not exactly the easiest of fields to research. But if I ever get enough will force and dough to study that education doctorate I'll try to dig as much in this topic as I can and I'll send you a copy of my doctorate thesis ;)