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27 September 2004
Sinister dexterity
Most of us are pretty clear on the issue whether we're right- or left-handed. But most of us also embody a few other lateral dichotomies that get less attention. Via Kevin Drum, here's a set of quick tests to assess your handedness (if you were in doubt) as well as your, emm, footedness, eyedness and earedness.
As for me, it turns out that I am strongly right-handed and -eyed; mildly right-footed and strongly left-eared. Check it out (or, if you're Abiola Lapite: gnosce teipsum) and discover your own vital statistics on this vitally important matter.
Posted by Mrs Tilton at 11:35 AM | Permalink
Comments
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The site seems to be exceedingly popular, as I'm told that the bandwidth has been exceeded when I click through. Hopefully it'll be back up later in the day.
A curious thing: when I was younger, I was originally left-handed, and was only persuaded to switch with some effort, but now I'm almost completely dependent on my right hand. Strangely enough, I'm still left-eyed (and correspondingly shorter sighted in that eye). I wonder what that says about brain plasticity.
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Posted by: Abiola Lapite at 27 Sep 2004 15:51:07
It was pretty common in the old days, I believe, to force natrual lefties to switch to the right. (Never mind neurological development, what does that tell us about your political development?) Frowned upon now, so far as I know. I imagine the dextrophile teachers didn't care much about eye use.
Clearly one can turn a left-hander into a right-hander by brute force, at least if one starts early. I wonder whether this encouraged the victimised left-handers to develop ambidexterity? If I remember correctly, ambidexterity correlates much more closely with left- than right-handedness, with most ambidextrous peeople favouring their left over their right hand.
Posted by: Mrs Tilton at 27 Sep 2004 16:18:17
When my dad was in elementary school in the thirties, they made him change from left to right handed and it made him stutter so badly that he had to leave school until the fifth grade. So I think trying to make people change can have bad consequences, and he did not become ambidextrous.
I think lefties just tend to become more ambidextrous because so many things are made just right handed, that it becomes a necessity to learn how to use them.
Posted by: wood turtle at 9 Oct 2004 06:39:38
