Published: Monday, August 14, 2006
Lefties embrace a holiday with a hike
There's more to the distinction than writing, a psychology professor says.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN — What's right about being left-handed? Well, for one thing, southpaws get their own celebration, International Left-Handers Day.
Ray Novotny, a naturalist at Mill Creek MetroParks and lefty, said he's been waiting for the annual observance to fall on a Sunday so that he could plan an event focusing on the day. This weekend, about 30 people turned out for a two-mile hike in left field, so to speak, around the "left side" of Lake Cohasset, where they enjoyed blue skies, a nice breeze and balmy conditions. The group met at and returned to Ford Nature Center, where a speaker addressed the group.
Novotny searched the Internet and found Dr. Christopher Niebauer, a professor of psychology at Slippery Rock University, who does research on handedness. His talk focused on the "psychology of handedness."
"People might think handedness is just about writing," said Niebauer, but there's more to it.
He distributed a sheet he uses in his research and had the group fill it out — noting whether they used their right hand, left hand, or a mix of the two to write, to draw, use a spoon, open a jar, throw a ball, cut with scissors, use a knife and strike a match. There also were questions about whether parents were right- or left-handers and where the person stood in the birth order in the family.
Niebauer said his research was more about handedness, which preference people had.
"The normal world really doesn't care about it," he said, because the majority of people are right-handed.
Niebauer said he usually scans a group of people to see who's left-handed. "Most lefties wear their watches on the right hand because it makes it easier to write," he said.
Stereotypes and advantages
He also noted that there are often "unfavorable connotations with being left-handed. More left-handers stutter, have allergies, are psychophrenic, and have other problems. The right is often seen as a symbol of good and the left, evil."
But, Niebauer added, "The good news is that left-handers are creative."
Niebauer said most people have a preference for one hand or the other. "Truly ambidextrous people are rare," he said. "But most lefties are mixed handed — they can do some things with their right hands."
It's believed there is a gene that determines handedness.
"Handedness is a cheap way to look at the brain," Niebauer said. "The corpus callosum, the middle of the brain, connects the two sides and lets them communicate. In 20 percent of left-handers, this corpus callosum is larger."
Lefties and mixed handers can update information for time and place faster. "But the right side of the brain plays devil's advocate and challenges the consistency of the left side," he said.
"Lefties think about new ways to do things. They're the ones who usually stumble onto something unique," Niebauer said. A large number of architects are left-handers, he said. "They create it and make it look good, too."
"Left-handers are better at cognitive complexity," Niebauer said, noting that most people can hold but one thing in consciousness at a time, while most left-handers can manage two.
Other distinctions
Niebauer asked for questions from the audience:
* Are we right- and left-footed?
Niebauer said yes, most people show the same preference as their handedness. If you are left-handed, you'll probably kick a football with your left foot.
* What about eye dominance?
Yes, one eye tends to be dominant.
* What about right- and left-eared?
On the phone, Niebauer said many people may prefer to listen with the right ear because the sounds are translated into language on the left side of the brain.
Lou and Loretta Liguore of Poland attended the hike and talk. She's a lefty, along with one of their four sons, and her husband is right-handed. "We came because of the hike and the talk," Loretta Liguore said. "I think we learned a few things," Lou Liguore said.
They said they had to special order a left-handed guitar for their son. Loretta Liguore said she makes adjustments with various activities. "I knit and crochet, but I think it would be hard to teach someone."
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