AHAHA We're Taking Over

Post by **Tami** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:29 am

Study Finds More Left-Handers than Thought
By Anna Salleh, ABC Science Online

Sept. 13, 2004 — There may be more left-handed people than we realize, an international study has found.

If we include the number of people who throw a ball, strike a match or use a pair of scissors with their left hand, the researchers say the world looks more of a left-handed place.

Australian researcher Sarah Medland of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane and team publish the research in the current issue of the journal Laterality.

Left-handed people face problems in a world where most things, from scissors to can-openers and computers to power tools, are designed for right-handers.

In the past left-handers faced even greater problems. Some schoolchildren were forced, under threat of the strap, to write with their right hand, regardless of their natural tendency.

Medland and team hoped to shed light on the contribution of cultural factors like this on the distribution of handedness.

Their study took another look at research involving more than 11,000 adults from 32 countries, which two senior U.S. members of the research team did over a decade ago.

In the original research, people were asked which hand they wrote with. The researchers also used a longer questionnaire that asked which hand people used to throw a ball, hold a racket, unscrew a lid, strike a match, use a hammer, toothbrush, scissors, knife, screwdriver or fork.

\"Most people think of handedness as being based on which hand you write with but there are a lot of different ways to measure handedness,\" Medland told ABC Science Online.

Ten years on, Medland and team compared the classifications of handedness based on writing with the more general criteria that included ball throwing and match striking.

The researchers found that 95 percent of people were given the same classification regardless of how they were assessed. But 5 percent had a different classification.

Although some of the 5 percent were ambidextrous, a large proportion wrote with their right hand but tended to use their left hand for other things.

The people in this 5 percent group also tended to be older than the rest of the people in the study.

Medland said this supported the idea that they belonged to a generation that was forced to write with the right hand regardless of their natural tendency, and this had a lasting influence on them.

The people in this group were also more likely to be women, suggesting women may be more sensitive to the social or cultural pressures that result in right-handedness, Medland said.

They were also more likely to be from what the researchers described as a more formal or conformist culture. These countries included: Belgium, Cyprus, France, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Portugal, South America and Spain, and the Middle East.

They were less likely to come from Australia, Canada, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, U.K. or U.S., the so-called non-formal or permissive countries.

Medland said the criteria used to classify formal and non-formal countries were developed in the 1980s so may not be relevant today. But she said the criteria were relevant to the time when the people in the study were learning to write.

On average, 10 percent of people are left-handed, based on which hand they write with. But the researchers found this rate varied between countries; an average 13 percent of Canadians were left-handed and just 2.5 percent of Mexicans.

She said a separate study of Japanese schoolchildren had found only 0.7 percent were left-handed.

[url=\"http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20040913/leftie.html\"]source[/url]

Endo · Post by **Endo** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 3:33 am

Well..im right handed, but left for guitar <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

Post by **Shydragonchic** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:32 am

I\'m very decidedly right handed <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... /ggsad.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'(sad)\' /> my left hand is retarded...only thing it can do is hold stuff, lmao.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:37 am

I\'m a lefty!!!! <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' /> <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

ner0 · Post by **ner0** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 10:33 am

<font face=\"verdana\" color=\"#603621\">[b]left-handed here too (grin) [/b]</font>

Post by **Scott** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:31 pm

Definatly right handed here, only thing my left hand is good for is the left side of the keyboard...

Sp3culuM · Post by **Sp3culuM** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:43 pm

I'm pretty much the same as Vul and Shy. Useless hand, could do with another right one <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... /smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':)\' />

Post by **Tibs** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:50 pm

Righthanded, although i can play soccer with two feet <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' /> wich is weird <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... unsure.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':unsure:\' />

Post by **Tami** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 3:44 pm

well I\'m sure it\'s easier to play soccer with two feet than to have to hop around the soccer field on one.

and in case you didn\'t guess it...for those who don\'t know, I too am left-handed. <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

Sp3culuM · Post by **Sp3culuM** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:00 pm

Do you lefties use a left-handed mouse?

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:18 pm

no? lol.. I use my right hand for my mouse for some reason <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

Post by **Tami** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:31 pm

same here, mouse is on the right of my keyboard; only time it\'s different is if I\'m using the pen like a mouse.

Wingx · Post by **Wingx** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 5:57 pm

right-handed here... but i play football with my left foot (well the shooting part newayz)