Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Marruk · 12-16-2002, 11:22 AM

My brother and I constantly switch hands. My brother more so than I. Is there any kind of genetics that cause this, is it part of being left handed, or is it somewhere in the middle. I'm just currious because most of what I have casually read was leaning twards left or right-handedness. What causes people to be indecisive?

Kosh · 12-16-2002, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marruk:
<strong>My brother and I constantly switch hands. </strong>

Do you have quick connect fitting on your wrists?

Marruk · 12-16-2002, 12:20 PM

he he, no quick connect fitting. That would be funny, I could have man hands and he could have dainty feminin ones.

cricket · 12-16-2002, 12:50 PM

Thanks you two; I needed that.

Jackalope · 12-17-2002, 03:17 AM

There is such a thing as being ambidexterous. Most musicians are ambidexterous to some degree, or it'd be impossible to play most instruments (overtone flute or tabor pipe can be played one-handed, but they're hardly typical instruments). I'm nominally right-handed, that is I write with my right hand. For many years, I painted with my left hand. And I throw darts left-handed with much more accuracy than I do right-handed.

If I was willing to restring my banjolele to play "backwards" I could probably play with my right hand doing the chording and the left doing the strumming. But that'd require me to get a new bridge as well, so I haven't tried the experiment. I have been able to play a left-hander's guitar, though it was definitely an exercise in sheer force of will.

Truly ambidexterous individuals are more likely to confuse left and right (neither one "feels" more correct), and there's a small correlation with dyslexia.

I'm a mutant anyway. I was born cross-eyed and didn't have corrective surgery until I was nearly 9 years old. I don't have some of the cross-connections at the optic chiasm that allow normal individuals to have stereoscopic vision. That may have contributed to why I only weakly have a dominant hand/eye. But there are also a fair number of musicians in my family, so the trait may have already been there in the genes.

When we were doing a pilot study on written language processing while I was in college, we found out that we had to exclude both the left-handers _and_ the ambidexters. The right/left hemisphere tasking that most people quote only actually apply to individuals who are:
male
right handed
aged 18-25 years old
college students

Largely because a lot of research studies draw on the psych student pool for their subjects.

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12-16-2002, 11:22 AM	#11
Marruk Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,596	My brother and I constantly switch hands. My brother more so than I. Is there any kind of genetics that cause this, is it part of being left handed, or is it somewhere in the middle. I'm just currious because most of what I have casually read was leaning twards left or right-handedness. What causes people to be indecisive?

12-16-2002, 12:20 PM	#13
Marruk Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,596	he he, no quick connect fitting. That would be funny, I could have man hands and he could have dainty feminin ones.

12-16-2002, 12:50 PM	#14
cricket Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: St Louis MO USA Posts: 1,188	Thanks you two; I needed that.

12-17-2002, 03:17 AM	#15
Jackalope Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Hayward, CA, USA Posts: 1,675	There is such a thing as being ambidexterous. Most musicians are ambidexterous to some degree, or it'd be impossible to play most instruments (overtone flute or tabor pipe can be played one-handed, but they're hardly typical instruments). I'm nominally right-handed, that is I write with my right hand. For many years, I painted with my left hand. And I throw darts left-handed with much more accuracy than I do right-handed. If I was willing to restring my banjolele to play "backwards" I could probably play with my right hand doing the chording and the left doing the strumming. But that'd require me to get a new bridge as well, so I haven't tried the experiment. I have been able to play a left-hander's guitar, though it was definitely an exercise in sheer force of will. Truly ambidexterous individuals are more likely to confuse left and right (neither one "feels" more correct), and there's a small correlation with dyslexia. I'm a mutant anyway. I was born cross-eyed and didn't have corrective surgery until I was nearly 9 years old. I don't have some of the cross-connections at the optic chiasm that allow normal individuals to have stereoscopic vision. That may have contributed to why I only weakly have a dominant hand/eye. But there are also a fair number of musicians in my family, so the trait may have already been there in the genes. When we were doing a pilot study on written language processing while I was in college, we found out that we had to exclude both the left-handers _and_ the ambidexters. The right/left hemisphere tasking that most people quote only actually apply to individuals who are: male right handed aged 18-25 years old college students Largely because a lot of research studies draw on the psych student pool for their subjects.

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