Are left-handed people more creative? Do they use the right side of their brain more than the left side? Is it true their corpus callosum is larger than a right-handed person is? Does making someone switch handedness cause stuttering? Do lefties have more health risks? Ever notice the high percentage of lefties that play sports? will examine each question along with the subjects I interviewed. Starting this research my theory was that lefties are creative. You'll have to read to find in my conclusion whether I still feel the same way.

As I studied creativeness I learned a little bit more on how the brain works, and how it> functions affect lefties. In the brain we all have two hemispheres, which are connected by the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is a large band of fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain and sends messages back and forth between them. In left-handed people it has been found that their corpus callosum is 11% larger than a right-handed person

is. In the left hemisphere of the brain the most obvious functional specialization is speech and language abilities. Paul Broca identified the area that plays the primary role in speech production; therefore, naming it Broca's area. Carl Wernicke identified the area that plays the primary role in language comprehension; therefore, named it Wernicke's area. It's estimated that between 70% to 95% of humans have left-hemisphere language specialization. The left-hemisphere's functions also include being more logical, verbal, and dealing with things in order. The right-hemisphere's functions include being more emotionally intuitive and expressive, skilled at spatial relations, and can deal with things all at once. So the myth that left_ handers are right-brained is false. The only thing I really found that would explain the myth to be true, are the two functions I found in my left handed subjects those being, expressiveness and dealing with things all at once.

Does making a lefty switch hands cause stuttering? My husband Ron was the only subject I had that this happened to. He was a lefty and his grandmother would make him use his right hand. She would say that his mother did drugs and that is the reason why he's left-handed. Ironically enough Ron's mother was left-handed as well. So that doesn't say much for the grandmother, does it? Ron was in speech and reading classes to help him with his stuttering.

He revealed that this bothered him when he was young. He now uses his right hand for everyday things. He uses his left for things that he doesn't do all the time; for instance, playing pool or bowling. I read about a study done by Ballard in 1912 on 13,189 children Out of those children 4.3% of them stuttering rose when forced to switch to the right hand. So stuttering is somewhat a myth also.

Two psychologists named Nicholas Cohen and Diane Halpern did several research studies on lefties. One of the studies was the health risk they found. They found that lefties don't live as long as right-handed people. Lefties endure more headaches, and have more accidents (because of right-handed equipment), they have more joint and knee problems, use more tobacco and alcohol, and suffer more immune problems. They also found that right-handed people lived eight to nine years longer. With my left-handed subjects two of them smoke and three drink (one was an alcoholic).

Here she mentions number of left handers, but needs to compare to rate of right handers in her sample.

Have you ever noticed the high percentage of lefties that play sports? I believe sports to be a sign of creativity. If you take a close look at baseball players most of them bat both sides of the plate. Left-handed athletes are also common in other sports as well: cricket, tennis, wrestlers, and the list goes on and on. My son is left-handed and he plays baseball and bats both sides of the plate and wrestles. Wrestling is a difficult thing to explain, but picture being left-handed and always learning moves that start from the right or come from the right. Is that really fair to a lefty? Luckily his father is also a wrestler, as well as his coach, and he drills him both ways.

What makes someone creative? My answer to that question lies within a person. It's their character, their make-up, and the way they express themselves. It doesn't depend on one's job. It depends on their hobbies, their skills that they have and enjoy having. Creativity makes one happy to be able to express themselves. On my scale I am rating 1 as most creative and 5 as least creative. I wrote down their jobs and their hobbies to show that it doesn't matter what one's profession is; it matters that they are creative. You would have to also see some of the work I've seen from my subjects (which I couldn't provide pictures of all of them).

Here's the chart.

Needless to say, only 10% of the human population are left-handed. There are many myths out there, as your now well aware of. Are left-handed people MORE creative? Yes, I think they are creative, but since there are more right-handers than left-handers it only makes sense that there are more creative right-handers. The lefties that were my subjects are smart, active, artistic people. Our society doesn't realize how many obstacles lefties have to overcome. If you know a lefty (or a southpaw as they are also known as), all I can say is, youíre very lucky.

NEXT TIME:

The things that worked well for me were finding people that were willing to talk about being left-handed. They had many issues concerning the myths that people bestow upon them. They are labeled, sometimes ridiculed, and society is right-handed. Everyday they have obstacles to overcome. They told me it gets easier the older they get, but I think of my son that is only eight and how I want him to be proud that he is left-handed We just don't make a big issue out of it. It's amazing how many people make comments like, "Wow your left-handed!' Since only 10% of the population are left-handed it is kind of different.

The things that I would do differently would be to talk more about left-handedness being hereditary.

I really learned a lot doing this paper. It's kind of a personal issue as well. Researching this made me see things differently that will help me be more observant towards my son that is left-handed.