Lefties are all right |
Jennifer Cioffi |
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BOSTON (U-WIRE) - One out of every 10 people is left-handed, and for those living in this minority, life can be more difficult than for people who favor the right. But does this include a shorter life span? Recently, science has disproved the theory that left-handed people die earlier than right-handed people. As it turns out, the original study was flawed and a retraction had to be published. According to a study conducted by Clare Porac, a professor of psychology and director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Pennsylvania State University at Erie, there is no linkage between left-handedness and an early deathbed, even though the percentage of left-handed people over age 60 is lower than the number of right-handed people. There are tasks, however, that leave the left-handed person at a disadvantage. The use of carrot peelers, scissors, cameras, jigsaws and drills is difficult, if not dangerous, for lefties. Ink is smeared across their pages as they write, ring binders jab into their wrists, and left-handed writing desks in lecture halls are very hard to find. "It isn't a big deal really, it only gets annoying for me when I am in a large lecture hall and there aren't enough desks for the left-handed, as well as in a very small classroom," said College of Arts and Science sophomore, and southpaw, Kim France. Scientists have tried to determine what contributes to the development of left- or right-handedness. Many people believe that handedness is genetically linked, but studies have shown that this is not the only factor. The tools used by Neanderthals, such as digging or scraping instruments, were found to be ambidextrous. In medieval times, weapons developed were also ambidextrous, including the crossbow, mace and flail. In 1992, Porac conducted a study on identical twins to determine whether handedness was purely genetic. The reasoning behind the theory was that identical twins have identical genes, and therefore they must always be both right-handed or both left-handed. Surprisingly, only 76 percent of the twins had same handedness. In addition, if both parents are right-handed there is only a 2 percent chance that their child will be left-handed. If both parents are left-handed, the chance of the child being left-handed is 50-50. It becomes obvious that handedness determination is much more complicated than the random toss of the genetic dice. Being left-handed means that a person uses the right side of his brain for many functions, including control of his language skills, which is useful to know when studying speech and language disorders like stuttering or dyslexia. For years, handedness was the only easy, nonevasive way for a neurosurgeon to know which side of the brain controlled speech and language function. Handedness not only involves hands, but the rest of the body as well. A left-handed person has the tendency to use his left eye when peering through a microscope and will usually place his left foot forward first when walking. Southpaws tend to be slightly more expressive with the left side of their face; winking is easier and their smile tends to curve up slightly more. The reverse is true for the right-handed. Left-handed people live in a world designed for the right, even the familiar expression, "you are right" relates to handedness. In Latin, the term for left is the word "sinister," an indication of society's deep stigma for the left-handed community. Children until the 1940s and '50s were taught to write with their right hands even though it was clear they were left-handed. "My father was forced to write with his right hand when he was a kid and now his handwriting looks like a five-year-old's," said CAS and School of Education senior Jaime Gillette. Although left-handedness was once considered a social taboo, the list of famous southpaws includes Leonardo da Vinci, Charlie Chaplin, Billy the Kid, M.C. Escher and H.G. Wells. Former Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton are lefties. Former Vice President Al Gore is left-handed. Left-handed people also find themselves at a disadvantage in the game of polo, which forbids players from using their left hands. "Everything is oriented to right-handed people. It's the little things like can openers that are problems," College of General Studies sophomore Diane Shifman said. "People make fun of the way we write because we have to twist our hands. In elementary school the left-handed scissors never worked." | |